Over 600 people attended the premiere and celebration of locally produced indie film “Durant’s Never Closes” Thursday at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel.
Produced, directed and written by Travis Mills of Running Wild Films, “Durant’s Never Closes” is a biopic centering on Jack Durant, longtime owner of local Durant’s restaurant in Phoenix who was rumored to have mafia ties.
The movie stars Tom Sizemore as Jack Durant and also features Peter Bogdanovich and Michelle Stafford.
RELATED: Film in production will portray ’50s Phoenician gambler and restaurant owner Jack Durant
The film is nonlinear, forcing the viewer to piece it together.
According to Mills, the unconventional style of the film is meant to represent Durant’s reflection of his life.
“It’s a bunch of memories all jumbled together,” he said. “It’s a movie about a real-life guy and what he thinks about himself, his thoughts on his life, whether he thinks he’s a good guy or a bad guy.”
The style was not the only unconventional element. The film was shot in only eight days, with about a $250,000 dollar budget. Mills said this figure is a quarter of what would be considered a minimum budget for a film of this magnitude.
The event was also a celebration of Phoenix and local success. Ken Clark, the founder of Get Your PHX, introduced the film. The organization hosts monthly events celebrating the Phoenix community.
Local sponsors Edison Midtown and Local First Arizona also helped organize the event.
“In Phoenix, if you want to do something, you roll up your sleeves and do it, and people love it,” Clark said. “’Durant’s Never Closes’ and Travis Mills and his team represent that.”
Clark’s love for Phoenix is something Mills and his team share. Mills tries to leave a part of Phoenix in every film he makes, he said.
“We aren’t interested in going to Hollywood,” Mills said. “We’re interested in bringing Hollywood here. We’re staying here and telling Arizona stories.”
The film included local talent to play workers and customers at Durant’s. Previous Durant’s workers were featured in a cameo during the credits to speak about their real experiences with Jack Durant.
Barbara McBain, who played a Durant’s waitress named B.J., met her character’s real-life counterpart.
“I didn’t necessarily want to play her or be her — I did my own interpretation of what B.J. would be — but she said I played it really well,” McBain said.
The team’s next film, “Valley of Shadows” will also be tied to Durant and Phoenix, centering on the death of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles, whose death remains unsolved, although many believe it was the work of the mafia.
“Durant’s Never Closes” will be locally featured at select theaters including Scottsdale’s Harkins Shea 14, Tempe Cinemas, Sierra Vista’s Uptown 3 and The Screening Room in Tucson. It will also be featured nationally and internationally.
Sound producer James Alire said he wants the success of “Durant’s Never Closes” to encourage the Phoenix film industry and local filmmakers.
“I’d like to see it more as a celebration of the community and the independent film community than the film itself,” he said.
Contact the reporter at Kara.Carlson@asu.edu
