journalism 101
Paste Magazine: Let’s talk about Tony. How do you even begin to soundtrack Anthony Bourdain’s coming of age?
Jay McCarrol: Well, first, when I knew that we were doing a Bourdain movie and I was tasked to do the score, I knew I needed to just find a piece of music that I thought was fair and something that I could sign off on about the Bourdain that I have always known and loved. I’ve appreciated the type of man that he was and how he carried himself. He was very cool and dark and dignified, and I knew I needed a piece of music that had that in it. So, for a month or two, I played around on the piano and recorded a million different little voice memos on my iPhone, just trying to search for something that contained all those parts of him.
Matt bikes over during his lunch break from filming Journalism 101 to answer some questions about Tony at Cineplex Varsity on Saturday, August 15 2026.
Similar article from the Toronto Star.
McCarrol says the experience exposed him to a more regulated production environment, with stricter rules around unions, actors and what filmmakers can do on set.
“I think where the movie started to really come alive is when Matt returned to Canada, and all of us at Zapruder got to weigh in and watch it and discuss how to support certain sections, fix certain sections,” said McCarrol. “It’s a very collaborative process.”
Similar article from CBC Music
In the meantime, the pair are dealing with an unexpected consequence of their “Nirvanna” success: becoming internet heartthrobs.
“Matt and I have, in some corners of the internet, just been turned into sex dolls. Hey, look, we deserve every bit of it — it’s all on screen,” McCarrol quips.
He says the online fandom runs “the spectrum from fun and cute to downright freaky,” and includes a fair share of Nirvanna the Band fan fiction.
“I’ve been given a few artists’ renditions of Matt and I with our arms around each other, kissing,” he says.
“We like it.”
We asked McCarrol to share his favourite film scores — here’s what he said:
Back to the Future, Alan Silvestri
“It’s probably the best and most popular use of the octatonic scale or the diminished scale. When you dance around these chords, it sounds like it’s flip-flopping on itself. It’s so evocative. It heightens reality. “
In the wake of his two buzzy 2026 movies, Johnson is staying busy. He directed comedian and Tony actor Stavros Halkias’s upcoming Netflix special Uncle Stav. He’s developing a Toronto crime movie starring Finn Wolfhard for Neon, as well as a TSA comedy with Josh Safdie for A24. And he’s currently hard at work on a live-action Magic: The Gathering feature, while also chasing down a green light for the long-awaited third season of Nirvanna the Band the Show.
Johnson took the stage first, thanking the crowd, who were cheering loudly. After introducing himself as Matt, he told the crowd that he worked for Live Nation and “had some kind of bad news.” According to Johnson, Wolfhard’s band wouldn’t be able to take the stage, but Wolfhard himself would still be there and play some music for the attendees.
Instead, he brought out McCarrol, in his Fire from the Hip attire, which elicited many screams from the audience. “Hi everyone, I’m Finn,” he said. The comedic pair launched into a back-and-forth before Johnson asked a key question. “Is there anything you want to see before you leave Toronto?”
The story is inspired by true events that saw a Vice Canada editor recruit drug mules for an international cocaine smuggling operation, including out of the media giant’s offices. Wolfhard will play the Canadian investigative journalist who helped break the story.