Parting Shot
Morgan Neville
It’s been over three years since the death of anthony bourdain— explorer, chef, storyteller and one of the most influential cultural correspondents of our time. Throughout his career as an NYC chef, best-selling author and an Emmy-award winning TV host of No Reservations and Parts Unknown, Bourdain shed a light on the human experience and showed the great equalizing power of sharing a meal with a stranger. A new documentary Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville, director of 20 Feet from Stardom and the Mr. Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? follows Bourdain’s trajectory as he became the beloved star so many grieved for when he took his own life. “I didn’t want the film to feel like a eulogy. We tend to read history backward, but life lives forward,” says Neville. “the film itself should at least help people process his death enough so we can start to think about his life again.” So, rather, this film is an ode to the uncommon life of Bourdain, the journey of what made his brutally honest star rise.
“I don’t think anybody’s shown more of the world, to the world, on television, than Tony.”
You never met Bourdain. How did that shape how you told his story?
I never met Mr. Rogers either, but you feel you have a relationship with them through the television. They were both people that played pretty authentic versions of themselves on TV. People fell in love with Tony not in spite of his flaws but because of them. Through everything he did from Kitchen Confidential on, there’s this kind of wounded, self-deprecating, brutally honest voice that makes you trust him.
Why do you think that he left such a large hole in the world when he left?
It feels like when you read him or watch him, you’re hanging out or on a journey with a friend. This kind of sense of “I really know you, I traveled the world with you.” And that sense of loss like we’re never going to take a trip again. I don’t think anybody’s shown more of the world, to the world, on television, than Tony.
What do you hope this film says about Bourdain’s life and legacy?
He was profoundly curious about learning and understanding more. If there’s anything you want people to be reminded of, it’s that you should get out there and see how other people live. What Tony was about more than anything is just to be as open-minded as possible. He got this tattoo later in life that said, in ancient Greek, “I am certain of nothing.”