Michael Doven

myriad details then backs up to include the model and bring in the personality of the wearer.

He has also honed his craft as a producer and is currently the CEO of the new United Pictures Group, a company that is producing several films such as Durant's Never Closes and The Ranger. He is ecstatic to finally be producing under his own label, allowing him to work on films he thoroughly enjoys without altercations. Over the next few years, he expects the company to gain traction and mass exposure through its monumental films.

Michael is a 20+ year executive movie producer. He served as an assistant to Tom Cruise in what many call his "glory years" - in light of movies such as Mission Impossible 1-3, Vanilla Sky, and Minority Report. Michael is currently CEO of United Pictures Group, his own movie producing and distribution company. Some stellar films are on the horizon such as Durant's Never Closes, and he is incredibly optimistic about his company's growth. They have up to 5 movies currently in production. He also has his own photography company, consistently doing shootings for high-profile individuals. His knowledge and appreciate of film and photography art has brought him to his career today, and he couldn't be happier.

Inside Michael's New Work: Durant's Never Closes

When Mr.Doven decided to re-create the life and restaurant of Jack Durant, he did not anticipate how incredibly supportive the natives of Phoenix, Arizona, would be. Many people who are quite familiar with the original Durant’s Steak House, some of whom met Jack Durant himself, have visited the set and marveled at how realistic it is. The word quickly spread that the United Pictures Group’s latest project, entitled Durant’s Never Closes, was far more careful than many biographical and historical films.

This is not unusual when you consider the care of Michael always brings to his projects. As an associate and executive producer and collaborator on such disparate films as Mission Impossible and Eyes Wide Shut, Doven is extremely concerned with making his film as accurate in the details as it is in the major points. All of his projects have shown this same attention to detail and a degree of “heart and soul” rarely seen in filmmaking, where the object often seems to be to finish filming and release as quickly as possible to rake in the box office returns. Michael Doven does not do things like that.

“In my opinion, making a film is a process much like raising a child,” says Doven. “You must inject discipline and creativity, but most of all you must feel love. Love is what separates a technically adept project from a great one. No matter how ‘smart’ a film is, it does not matter if it does not have the caring of a crew who is dedicated to falling in love with the story.”

Jack Durant, played flawlessly by Tom Sizemore, reveals some of the mystery that surrounded this figure during his life. Originally from the backwoods of Tennessee, Durant traveled to Las Vegas in search of a life where he met the infamous Bugsy Siegel. While history does not record exactly what happened, it is clear that by the 1950s, Durant had absorbed many of his mentor’s lessons, carrying him to Arizona and eventually to the ownership of his first steakhouse, Durant’s.

The real-life version of Durant’s saw patronage from movie stars, political figures and mobsters. In the movie, the tension builds when a figure from Jack’s past arrives and changes the course of Durant’s future. With a car bombing, a long-lost love and the secretive cowboy who lingers at the bar, every character and scene of Durant’s Never Closes is a tribute to the mystery and intrigue of this man and his legend.