More On The Alinea Movie: R.J. Cutler Speaks ‘The Same Visual Language’


The Stew picked up more details on the Alinea movie that everyone’s buzzing about. Grant Achatz says he was willing to work with producer R.J. Cutler because he “understands it’s not just about a man’s victory over Stage 4 cancer. It needs to show the arc of a career and my position in the world of gastronomy.”

I dropped a line to Alinea partner Nick Kokonas for more detail, and he paints a similarly engaged position vis-a-vis letting Cutler* in the kitchen:

We had discussions with RJ Cutler about doing something very different than [the TV ideas the Alinea team was pitched]… something that spoke the same visual language as Alinea, our identity, the book – and that explored the creativity, ideation, business, and process behind doing things at Alinea – food, service, serviceware…. and of course, that requires speaking about Grant’s life, how he interprets anything through the lens of cuisine, etc. Being both a serious filmaker and a TV producer RJ bridges those lofty (potentially pretentious and disastrous) aspirations with the ability to tell a great story… Where this will go we are not quite sure – but we are excited by working with such an accomplished filmmaker.

Cutler’s busy promoting his recently completed behind-the-scenes-at-Vogue documentary, The September Issue, so filming hasn’t started yet for the movie that’s currently titled “Taste.”

Nick also dropped some tantalizing details about some other upcoming Alinea projects, but those’ll have to wait until we know more. Why? Because, having made that New Years resolution about trying to talk less about the A-team, I am trying to space this shit out. Work with me here.

Alinea’s Achatz to star in movie [The Stew]
Lights, Camera, Achatz! R.J. Cutler Is Making An Alinea Movie [previously]
Alinea [MenuPages]
Alinea [Official Site]

[Photos: Cutler (left) via, Achatz (right) — they look a little similar, eh?]

*When do we get to start making “Cutler-y” puns? Is it now?

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More On The Alinea Movie: R.J. Cutler Speaks ‘The Same Visual Language’