Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021) on Netflix

Name: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2021-07-16
Duration: 119 min
Rating: 7.7
Cast: Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, David Chang, Josh Homme, David Choe

R20211h 59mDocumentary

Anthony Bourdain rises from anonymous chef to bestselling author and host of food and travel shows. Friends, family and crew describe the man behind the camera.

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Netflix4.2/5
IMDb7.7/1011,604 votes
Rotten Tomatoes91%

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Plot summary

Conversations with people close to Anthony Bourdain, mixed with archival footage, trace his career from chef to writing Kitchen Confidential and then to television. Traveling the world for his shows, he saw hardship in war zones, disaster areas and developing countries. Those who knew him describe a man who was charismatic and hardworking but also moody and obsessive. His work kept him on the road, and the time away ended both of his marriages, first to Nancy Putkoski and later to Ottavia Busia.

Cast

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Director Morgan Neville hired a software company to create an artificial intelligence model of Anthony Bourdain's voice so the film could have him recite words he wrote but never spoke aloud, such as an email to David Choe. Neville said two other lines in the film came from the AI but refused to identify them.
The film's use of AI was not mentioned before Neville's interview and never acknowledged inside the film itself; its disclosure caused controversy, with critics saying it constituted unethical behavior.
Ottavia Busia, Bourdain's ex-wife and the executor of his estate, denied she had been consulted about using AI to reproduce his voice, tweeting: "I certainly was NOT the one who said Tony would have been cool with that."
Morgan Neville said the AI idea came from his initial pitch to have Bourdain narrate the film posthumously "á la Sunset Boulevard", one of Bourdain's favorite films and one he had reenacted himself on Cook's Tour.
Roadrunner opened to $1.9 million from 927 theaters, the best opening of 2021 for both an indie film and a documentary.