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Matt does the final Q&A about Tony at Cineplex Scotiabank Theatre on Sunday, August 16 2026.
Alternate YouTube title: Matt Johnson & Dominic Sessa Break Down TONY & Their Most Iconic Scenes
This video was also clipped on August 29, 2026 as Matt Johnson On Why You Have To Be Delusional To Make It | Scene Stealers Clip
In recent years, Canadian director Matt Johnson has served up two unexpected exceptions to the biopic trap. His 2023 “BlackBerry,” about the rapid rise and fall of the breakthrough smartphone, is a workplace comedy turned late capitalist tragedy with a “Succession”-like lack of reverence for its subjects. And his new film “Tony,” about the summer a young Anthony Bourdain spent working in a Provincetown kitchen, works as a coming-of-age film, regardless if you know its miserable 20-year old protagonist, played by Dominic Sessa, will become the beloved writer, chef, and “Parts Unknown” host.
This article is a companion piece to Matt Johnson on Feeling ‘Trapped’ Shooting ‘Tony,’ Josh Safdie’s Advice, and If Bigger Hollywood Films Are Next taken from the interview in Indiewire’s Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast.
Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie is not a video game movie. It’s not based on a video game property, or even features video games in its plot in a primary way. But from its opening moments, it’s clear that its creators and its director, Matt Johnson, are video game fans, and specifically fans of 16-bit RPGs. Johnson and his creative partner, Jay McCarrol, are also the creators of the viral Wii Shop Update Day video where they run down an impressive list of classic video game titles set to the tune of the Wii’s Shop Channel music.
Matt confirms his favourite video game is Baldur’s Gate 2. There’s a lot of video game chat here; I captured most of them in the tags but it’s an interesting read regardless!
“In the past 12 hours since the premiere, I’ve had endless conversations with people asking me what is real and what isn’t,” says Johnson. “The best answer that I can give is that the things people think we faked we really did, and the things that people haven’t even thought of, we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on VFX to make it look like it happened. Now, at the CN Tower, we’re playing all kinds of tricks. … It would have been international news otherwise.”