The Art of Controlled Chaos: How Matt Johnson Scaled His Guerrilla Ethos for A24’s ‘Tony’
Anthony Bourdain once famously likened the high-pressure environment of a professional restaurant kitchen to a pirate ship: a “dysfunctional, mercenary lot” of misfits held together by a collective addiction to chaos, adrenaline, and the unshakable bonds of the crew. For filmmaker Matt Johnson, that metaphor serves as the foundational DNA for his entire career.
Whether it is the tech-obsessed engineers of BlackBerry, the prank-fueled antics of The Dirties, or the relentless, boundary-pushing production of Nirvanna the Band the Show, Johnson has spent his career documenting young men in pursuit of a dream, often operating with the same outlaw spirit that defined the legendary chef. Now, with his latest A24 feature, Tony—a biographical drama exploring the formative years of a young Anthony Bourdain—Johnson finds himself at a career crossroads, grappling with how to maintain that signature, improvisational fire within the rigid, high-stakes infrastructure of a major studio production.
The Evolution of a Guerrilla Auteur
Matt Johnson’s rise to prominence is a masterclass in independent ingenuity. His early filmography, characterized by a run-and-gun, pseudo-documentary aesthetic, relied on a production model that felt more like a heist than a film shoot. In works like Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Johnson and his collaborators would often film in public spaces without permits, blurring the lines between reality and performance.
“Every single movie I’ve made has basically been about a bunch of young men making a movie,” Johnson admitted during a recent appearance on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “Whether that’s the kitchen at the Flagship in Tony, or it is the engineers at Research In Motion, or Matt and Owen in The Dirties, I’m constantly just reliving the feeling of being in film school, trying to figure out how to create myself and become an adult.”
The freedom of his early years allowed for a near-constant state of reinvention. If an idea sparked on set, the production would pivot to chase it. For legal reasons, Johnson remains notoriously tight-lipped about how his crew successfully infiltrated the CN Tower for Nirvanna. “I’ll just say the number one thing that gets bank robbers caught is they can’t help but brag about it,” he quipped.
The "Tony" Production: A Shift in Strategy
Transitioning to Tony, a period piece centered on a 20-year-old Bourdain (played by the breakout star Dominic Sessa) working in a Cape Cod kitchen, necessitated a fundamental shift in philosophy. The guerrilla, "move-fast-and-break-things" approach that defined his previous projects was, by necessity, discarded.
“When I’m making Nirvanna, I can really take whatever time I need to explore any nook and cranny of that story that I want, to a fault,” Johnson explained. “We can chase down the story with that production model as if we’re detectives on the trail of a serial killer. But on Tony, it really was quite the opposite.”
To capture the specific, atmospheric malaise of Bourdain’s early life, Johnson teamed up with cinematographer Michael Bauman. Together, they sought a visual language that felt like a "storybook where the pages just turn." This required a level of pre-planning that was entirely foreign to Johnson’s previous workflow.
“I was trying to challenge myself to just tell a story using only acting and writing,” he said. “It was a real shedding of what normally makes me comfortable. The struggle was that for the first time, I was really locked into what we had planned, and that makes me sound so amateur, rightfully.”
The Philosophy of the "Perfect" Scene
Despite the success of Tony, which has emerged as one of the most critically lauded films of the year, Johnson remains skeptical of traditional filmmaking perfection. He posits that if a director sets out to shoot a scene and achieves exactly what was on the page, the result is often a creative failure.
“My feeling is that the script and the plan is just your springboard for you to then discover something alive and out of control on the day,” Johnson noted. “Every single movie I’ve ever made, the things that work are the things that were mistakes, accidents that happened in a way that I can’t control.”
This tension—between the desire for a structured, professional production and the need for organic, messy discovery—is the defining conflict of Johnson’s current era. He admits that during the filming of Tony, he often felt "trapped" by the inability to pivot. He credits Bauman for acting as a stabilizing anchor, guiding him through the transition into a more disciplined directorial palette.
Collaborations and Future Horizons
Johnson’s creative journey has recently led him to find common ground with another master of kinetic, high-anxiety cinema: Josh Safdie. The two filmmakers have developed a close professional relationship, recently revealed to be collaborating on a comedy centered on the chaotic world of the TSA.
The rapport between the two is rooted in a shared perspective on the director’s role. “Josh said to me, ‘My job is to transfer enthusiasm from myself to the other people making this movie,’” Johnson recounted. “My God, if I don’t see it the exact same way and didn’t have those same words to frame it.”
Johnson holds the Marty Supreme director in the highest regard, calling him the best young filmmaker in the world. He finds inspiration in how Safdie has scaled his career without losing the raw, New York-centric energy that defined his early work. According to Johnson, Safdie’s success lies in his ability to build a "castle brick by brick," surrounding himself with a consistent team that understands his unique, frantic cadence.
Implications for a Studio Future
As Johnson looks toward the future, he faces the challenge of applying those lessons to increasingly massive projects. He is currently developing a potential trilogy based on the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. Reports indicate that Johnson may be inheriting the production apparatus used by Denis Villeneuve for the Dune trilogy—a massive leap from the DIY origins of his career.
Yet, Johnson remains self-effacing about his role in the industry hierarchy. “I’m not a technician,” he clarified. “I actually don’t come to filmmaking from the point of view of someone who has images in his head that wants to create them. That’s not what draws me to movies.”
He is adamant that his growth as a filmmaker does not necessarily equate to an obsession with scale. “It’s not like now that I’ve made Tony I want to make a movie 10 times that size,” he insisted.
The primary takeaway from Johnson’s career is that the "pirate ship" mentality is not a byproduct of budget, but of intent. Whether he is working with a shoestring budget in a Toronto alleyway or utilizing the expansive resources of a major studio, his focus remains on the "alive" moments—the friction, the accidents, and the human messiness that occurs when a group of people commits to a singular, slightly unhinged vision.
As Tony prepares for its nationwide expansion on August 21, it serves as a testament to Johnson’s versatility. He has proven that he can work within the lines when necessary, but one gets the sense that he will always be looking for the moment where he can pick up the pen and scribble in the margins. The film student who once snuck into the CN Tower may have grown up, but the impulse to challenge the status quo—and the thrill of doing so—remains fully intact.
A24 expands ‘Tony’ nationwide on Friday, August 21. To hear the full interview with Matt Johnson, subscribe to the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.
