Tony Director Matt Johnson Reveals 'the Best Scene In The Movie' And Why It Works So Well [exclusive Interview]

Note: Spoilers ahead for "Tony."

Well, speaking of punching people in the face, that scene where Leo's character punches Antonio in the kitchen –

Matt Johnson: It's the best scene in the movie.

It's so good. I was wondering if you guys could just tell me a little bit about what that was like — Matt, from your end, to conceive that and execute it, and for you guys, just to be there for that.

Matt Johnson: It was scary.

Stavros Halkias: It was incredible.

Matt Johnson: It was full-on scary, because — this is a real testament to Leo. A lot of people think of Antonio in that scene, but really, Antonio is just kind of shocked and stunned looking at him, and Leo goes off. And we're all in that room together. That kitchen's small, and I never left. I'm always in there with these four guys. It was us watching this happen, and I think everybody was just like, "Jesus, how far is Leo going to go?" When he whipped the dish at the wall and it exploded everywhere, the camera goes over to Dom, and Dom is literally hiding, almost out of focus. I don't know. It's my favorite scene.

Stavros Halkias: Yeah, I agree. We got to be bystanders, and still, it was like –

Dominic Sessa: It felt like, "I don't want to be in this room. I feel so uncomfortable."

Stavros Halkias: Totally. And going into that scene, I was like, "Well, this guy, my guy, he would get involved." I'm thinking that. I remember thinking, "Would he really just let this little piece of –"

Matt Johnson: You even say that in the scene afterwards!

Stavros Halkias: Yeah, yeah, totally. Afterwards. But that's why it made so much sense, because that's what I thought. And then it's a pure testament to Leo, he completely took over that room, and it –

Matt Johnson: You couldn't say a word to him.

Stavros Halkias: It felt honest and real that my loudmouth character shuts up just completely, and then afterwards –

Matt Johnson: [He says] "I would've killed him. I would've killed the guy."

Stavros Halkias: Yeah. It ended up being beautifully done. But yeah, there's been a couple of things where I'm like, 'Holy s***, what I felt was special,' and even you saying it, bro, I'm having goosebumps thinking about that performance, and that was a standout moment. That day on set, I was watching Antonio and Leo in that scene, and it really, they felt so real. I will remember that forever, truly — how I felt.

Matt Johnson: And I'll tell you what I love about the scene is that it's such an antidote to the scene where Stavros runs at Dom and almost in a play-fight way. Do you remember, almost 20 minutes earlier where you actually get to see the fraternal, "We're f***ing around and we can fight, we can play fight." Stavros throws a whole thing of celery at him and they knife fight. They fight, but that's fighting like boys.

And for the first time, now all of a sudden, there were no words exchanged. They just fought and now they're watching two men fight, and it's no longer funny. And so everybody is just quiet like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. We've trespassed into a place that this group never goes, and we don't have the operating instructions for what to do next." Yeah, I loved it, and Dom plays it so well, just looking at his two parents fighting like, "What the f*** do I do?"

"Tony" is in limited theaters now, and expands wide on August 21, 2026.