Today, in 50-plus locations around the world, the luxury brand Nobu reigns as a 5-star food and hotel destination.

“Nobu,” Matt Tyrnauer’s eye-opening documentary on Nobu Matsuhisa, Japan’s pioneering international chef, helps explain how it happened.

For a man who offers people princely dining and exotic vacation getaways, Matsuhisa began with, literally, nothing. He toiled for years at a Tokyo restaurant, beginning as a dishwasher, before being allowed to learn the art of slicing raw fish that is a staple of the Japanese diet.

“I knew about Matsuhisa in the Nobu restaurants. I’d been to all of them,” Tyrnauer, 56, said in a joint Zoom interview. “But I really didn’t know the story of the man and the chef.”

That changed when he read Nobu’s autobiography. “I saw this incredible journey he took. A lot of tribulation and a lot of personal tragedy — and he really didn’t find his huge success until later in life. That I found fascinating.

“He really struggled. And how, out of that struggle, came his success. I wanted the movie to show all of the struggles.

“I’ve made a lot of films about a lot of people” (“The Reagans,” “Where Is My Roy Cohn?”). Nobu was incredibly open and incredibly honest, not only with me, but himself. That allowed the movie to be personal. To show that this was an epic journey that started in a small town in Japan and now brings him around the world.”

Asked why revisit his history this way, “Because now I can say all my life was not easy, right. But,” Nobu, 76, said in his accented English, “I did it myself. Now I can show to my family, on my terms. Especially for the grandkids. Grandkids don’t know what I’m doing.

“I appreciate, because of my background, my histories. I like to say I’m so proud of my life and I like to share to the people watching the results.”

Much pleasure comes seeing this self-made yet still humble mogul in his private jet, his castle-like California mansion and in meetings with Robert De Niro, his hotels and restaurants partner.

“One thing about Robert De Niro,” Tyrnauer noted, “is that he’s incredibly comfortable in his own skin. You see how he is for just a normal day at a board meeting.

“But an amazing discovery for me while making this: There are a lot of people famous in showbusiness and involved in the restaurant business.

“Only they don’t have a hands on role. You see how that’s hardly the case with De Niro who’s involved in the business, the planning of and the architecting of it. It’s a real partnership.”

“Nobu” is in theaters July 4