Food isn’t immediately the focus of the Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony, a fictionalized account of how the celebrated chef and author fell in love with cooking in mid-1970s Provincetown, Massachusetts.
But then, cooking and food wasn’t the focus of Bourdain’s life at 19, either. At the start of Tony — which is co-written and directed by Matt Johnson (BlackBerry, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie) and stars Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) — Bourdain insists he’s a writer. When he doesn’t land his dream scholarship, Bourdain follows his crush Nancy (Emilia Jones) to Provincetown, gets a job in a random restaurant helmed by a mysterious man known only as Chef (Antonio Banderas), and learns how to cook alongside the rebellious Sal (Leo Woodall) and the acerbic Dimitri (Stavros Halkias).
Seacia Pavao
As the film progresses, Bourdain’s passion for gastronomy grows as he sees firsthand the creativity required to make a dish unique, the way food brings people together, and the role it can play in the community. Making that food look desirable was the job of Christine Tobin — the food stylist on Tony, who helped to pick out, design, and create all of the dishes that are depicted in the film.
“Both me and Matt knew we needed to make sure everything presented was authentic,” Tobin tells GQ. “It needed to be accurate because I didn’t want anyone coming after me if it wasn’t right.”
Tobin’s been the food stylist on the likes of Little Women, Challengers, The Drama, Good Burger 2, and both seasons of HBO’s series Julia, but she’s been building up her knowledge of kitchen culture since she was seventeen, when she got her first job in a restaurant. “I actually started my food career on Cape Cod and graduated high school in a town not far from Provincetown,” says Tobin, who has also worked as a fine artist for over 30 years, as well as being a culinary creative.
Tobin remembers she was working at Oleana, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when she first read Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Bourdain’s debut book that kick-started his media career. “At that point I’d had years of restaurant experience, so was completely curious about food styling and storytelling. I just completely related to his writing. It didn’t just feel journalistic, it was visual, and you could hear and smell it. It really just ignited this interest in culinary storytelling. Plus everyone who has worked in a kitchen knows someone like Anthony Bourdain.”