In the Weeds
Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain
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4.4 • 13 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Anthony Bourdain's long time director and producer takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the insanity of filming television in some of the most volatile places in the world, and what it was like to work with a legend.
"The most complete picture yet of Bourdain's complex and conflicted character ... Vitale's writing is seductively alive, pulsating with events and vividly rendered observations." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Since Anthony Bourdain's death, no one else has come close to filling the void he left. His passion and genuine curiosity about the people and cultures he visited made the world feel smaller and more connected. Despite his affable, confident, and trademark snarky TV persona, the real Tony was intensely private, deeply conflicted about his fame, and an enigma even to those close to him. Tony’s devoted crew knew him best, and no one else had a front-row seat for as long as his director and producer, Tom Vitale.
Over the course of more than a decade traveling together, Tony became a boss, a friend, a hero and, sometimes, a tormentor.In the Weeds takes readers behind the scenes to reveal not just the insanity that went into filming in some of the most far-flung and volatile parts of the world, but what Tony was like unedited and off-camera. From the outside, the job looked like an all-expenses-paid adventure to places like Borneo, Vietnam, Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Libya.
What happened off-camera was far more interesting than what made it to air. The more things went wrong, the better it was for the show. Fortunately, everything fell apart constantly.
Nominated for the 2022 BookTube Prize in Nonfiction
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Vitale's arresting tales of life as chef-turned-media star Anthony Bourdain's longtime director and producer offer a vivid look at a demanding, passionate, volatile man and "the highs and lows, and the bizarre as shit situations in which we constantly found ourselves." When Bourdain died by suicide in June 2018, a stunned Vitale refused to unpack the suitcase he'd just loaded in preparation to join Bourdain on another shoot. "What follows is my best attempt to paint an honest picture of my experience traveling with Tony," he writes. "A story told by someone who is still trying to make sense of it all." As he reflects on more than a decade of working with Bourdain—on shows including CNN's Parts Unknown—Vitale shares mesmerizing recollections of their travels through Libya (where routine car-bomb checks were followed by tea), Vietnam (on a "top-secret" shoot with former President Obama), and countless other locales, while probing the fascinating and frustrating facets of the chef's larger-than-life personality. "Tony's leadership techniques were CIA caliber: duplicitous, unforgivable, possibly criminal, and usually extremely effective," Vitale writes, admitting that while Bourdain's presence was stimulating, his "energy would suck you dry." With this exhilarating travelogue, he paints a complicated portrait, packed with vibrant details, of a man whose "best was enough for millions of fans, but... wasn't enough for him." Those fans are sure to eat this up.
