AGC Television Co-Producing Nobu Docuseries

AGC Television, Gianni Nunnari’s Hollywood Gang and Altimeter are co-producing the four-part docuseries NOBU about world-renowned chef and hotelier Nobu Matsuhisa.

Matsuhisa has 47 restaurants and 27 hotels bearing his name, which has become synonymous with the very highest accomplishments in the culinary world. The docuseries traces his path to success, which was riddled with obstacles, adversity and tragedy as he journeyed from Japan to Peru to the U.S.

Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor, Where’s My Roy Cohn?, Studio 54, Scott and the Secret History of Hollywood, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City) will direct the series. He will also executive produce alongside Corey Reeser, co-founder of Altimeter; Nunnari; Stuart Ford, founder of AGC Studios; and AGC’s Lourdes Diaz, president of television, and BJ Levin, executive VP of nonfiction. Reeser will serve as showrunner.

“To help a world-class filmmaker such as Matt tell of the journeys past and present of a global culinary and cultural icon such as Matsuhisa-san is an exhilarating prospect,” said Ford. “We are therefore thrilled to be working with our partners at Hollywood Gang and Altimeter to bring this ambitious multicultural docuseries to life.”

Nunnari said, “I have known Nobu for so much of my life; he is a man that I profoundly respect, both for his craft and for his wise approach to life. I am thrilled to help share Nobu’s inspiring journey with the world.”

“This is one of the greatest, most inspiring and interesting stories I have ever had the opportunity to tell,” noted Tyrnauer. “Nobu’s reinvention of a cuisine, his staggering success in redefining the food culture worldwide and his push into the hotel business would be impressive and interesting enough for a series, but I am floored by the unknown story of the man. He’s a study in perseverance and triumph over adversity—a self-made individual, whose career almost crashed and burned. There are plot twists, great lows and, more recently, staggering highs. I have not encountered a subject for a cinema verité film like this since my first film, Valentino: The Last Emperor. There are a lot of similarities, in fact, between Valentino and Nobu: both redefined their art forms and are great survivors in the toughest of businesses.”