‘Tony’ Brings The Authentic Cape To The Big Screen

“Tony,” a fictionalized encapsulation of Anthony Bourdain’s summer stint in a Provincetown restaurant, a time he credited with activating the love of cooking that defined his career, is not your average biographical film. Instead of charting Bourdain’s entire life, it focuses on a single point that changed his life. One of the most important aspects of the film is Cape Cod itself.

Few films have captured the essence of Cape Cod in such a personal way; in fact, most films set on the Cape forgo it as a shooting location and utilize a lookalike instead. 

One person with a plethora of knowledge in that regard is Charles Harrington, who has been working in the location department on feature films and television series for nearly four decades. His experience is primarily on films shot in Massachusetts or ones that approximate the state’s visuals, and his credits include “Good Will Hunting,” “Black Mass,” “Knives Out,” and the Netflix miniseries “The Perfect Couple,” which shot scenes in Chatham in 2023.

As the location manager, Harrington was among the first on the production crew to read the script. “Usually, it’s a question of which country or state we’re going to make the movie in, but we always knew we wanted to be in Massachusetts for [‘Tony’]. I scouted the whole state — North Shore, South Shore, inland…but I live in Dennis, so I was glad we ended up on the Cape.”

There’s a reason more film productions don’t take place on Cape Cod; it’s more expensive for unions to operate, and the desirable tax incentives that draw productions to cities like Atlanta are not as readily available in Massachusetts. However, the “Tony” team prioritized authenticity to Bourdain’s experience.

In the film, a young Anthony Bourdain (played by Dominic Sessa, whose breakout role was in “The Holdovers,” another Massachusetts production) finds summer employment at a restaurant called the Lobster Pot. Nailing that location was a key part of Harrington’s role.

“A good chunk of the movie happens there,” Harrington said. “A Dennis restaurant, Gina’s by the Sea, had just closed, and I happened to know the owner. That was the first location I found.” Gina’s by the Sea, a Dennis staple for over 40 years, closed its doors in 2024, a decision that had been brewing since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Because it was readily available with the necessary equipment, it was the perfect place to shoot.

The production team approved of Harrington’s choice, but wanted to explore other options. “I [photographed] 60 or 70 other closed restaurants all over the state, and none of them beat Gina’s. The owner, Larry Riley, put up with all of our nonsense. We’re kind of a circus that takes over your house, or your restaurant, and he was very patient and cooperative.”

“Tony” utilized over 30 locations over its 25-day shoot, most of them on the Cape. This included a week in Provincetown shortly before that year’s Fourth of July celebration and scenes at the Wellfleet Drive-In Theater.

“We always knew we would be in [Provincetown] for some of it,” Harrington said. “I started scouting in January. Originally, we were going to shoot in April and May, and then the schedule changed because of actor availability. We found ourselves needing to be there at the busiest ime of year, but it all worked out very well. The director wasn’t giving that up. After all, what else looks like Commercial Street?”

Much of Harrington’s work on the film took place during pre-production, but he was also on set for most of the shoot, facilitating location logistics. “It was immersive,” he said. “I’d like to take credit, but the cars, hair, and costumes made a huge difference. I’m the same age as Anthony Bourdain, and I was on the Cape during the summer [of 1975]...and they fooled me.”

“Tony” is an independent film (meaning it was produced by financiers and small companies, rather than a studio), and the crew was responsible for every cent spent in their department.

“I have to keep both the producers and the artistic people happy,” Harrington said. “Luckily, that was easy to do here. I had a good relationship with the production designer [Ryan Warren Smith] and the director, Matt Johnson. Everybody wanted the best-looking movie we could get for the money we had.”

Harrington had nothing but praise for writer/director Matt Johnson. 

“He’s a very collaborative guy,” he said, “very approachable and gentle. I don’t want to be smarter than the director in any movie I’m [working] on, so it wasn’t disappointing meeting and working with him.”

A major aspect of the “Tony” experience that Harrington noticed is the passage of time, and the small size of the Massachusetts film crew pool. “I’m getting older, and a lot of the guys who I trained as my assistants are competing for jobs with me now. But the great thing about this movie is that there were a ton of people on the crew that I’ve done about 20 movies with. It was a lot of fun, not just with friends, but with the people who are the best at what they do.”

“Tony” opens at the Chatham Orpheum Theater and nationwide this Friday, Aug. 21.