Anthony Bourdain gave us a lot of unforgettable quotes, many of which also double as great life advice. However, in Tony, the upcoming A24 movie about the chef, there’s one very well-known quote that was cut from the project. Now, why did that happen? Well, the film’s director told CinemaBlend his reasoning behind taking the famous Bourdain philosophy out.
Ahead of Tony’s release on the 2026 movie schedule, CinemaBlend’s Hannah Saulic got the director and cast’s takes on some of Anthony Bourdain’s popular philosophies and quotes. This included his famous line:
Your body is not a temple. It's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.
That quote comes from Bourdain’s book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. And Matt Johnson, the director of Tony, told us that the line was originally in his movie. He specified that it was said to Dominic Sessa’s Tony by Leo Woodall’s chaotic and free-spirited cook, Sal. However, Johnson ended up taking the line out. Here’s why:
Matt Johnson: And I took it out. I have a mixed feeling about that. And I think that, yes, absolutely, this life is here for you to live. But Anthony Bourdain would also say you have a responsibility to do your best. And I find those two philosophies to be sometimes in conflict with one another. So yes, I mean, like we’re an embodied species. Like, you want to feel everything, but don't sacrifice your life to your pleasure, I think is taking that too far.
That conflict Johnson brought up is explored in Tony. The movie – which follows Anthony Bourdain’s first summer in Provincetown, where he works as a dishwasher and learns about working in a restaurant – sees him go from a pretentious wannabe writer to a person who falls in love with cooking and the skills and discipline that come with it. On the one hand, he has Woodall’s Sal teaching him how to live his life on the edge and to the fullest; on the other, he has Antonio Banderas’ restaurant owner teaching him how to live a fulfilling and disciplined life as a chef.
The philosophy about our bodies being an amusement park certainly fits in better with Sal’s actions in the movie. It also feels like something Tony lives by too, but again, not to its fullest extent. As Johnson noted, Bourdain has philosophies and quotes about responsibility, showing up on time and working hard. Those kinds of beliefs can compete with the thrill-seeking nature of his other quote.
However, multiple and conflicting things can be true at the same time. For the sake of the film, though, I get why he took the quote out. Although Stavros Halkias, who plays Dimitri, disagreed with the director’s take, saying:
I couldn't disagree more. I think he’s 100% correct about that. You just have a good time, get fucked up, eat the tasty stuff.
Johnson reacted to that by asking, “And then die!?” to which Halkias said, “Yes, who cares?”
Well, no matter how you feel about the matter, the quote was cut from Tony.
Now, how would the late Anthony Bourdain feel about all this and the movie in general? We will never know. However, his assistant did say that it’s not worth trying to predict what Bourdain would think of something.
So, who knows what exactly he’d think about this quote getting cut and the movie in general. That aside, Tony has gotten solid reviews, and you can catch it (but not the philosophy about our bodies being amusement parks) in theaters now.
