A getaway driver for a growing crime syndicate will be rolling through downtown and west-side Tucson neighborhoods in the coming days.
No need to lock your doors β itβs for a drama series.
Called βDuster,β the series is set in the 1970s southwest and is being directed by JJ Abrams and LaToya Morgan and stars actor Josh Holloway.
Abrams co-created the popular series βLost,β which also starred Holloway.
Several Tucson streets will be closed near downtown, in the Menlo Park neighborhood and Santiago Hills, west of Silverbell Road between Speedway and Anklam Road.
Film Tucson is alerting affected neighborhoods about the filming and road restrictions, but residents who need to travel during filming hours will be allowed to commute.
The Warner Bros. Television series will air on HBO Max, but a run date has not been set.
Tucson scored the series after state, county and city leaders joined with Visit Tucson and Rio Nuevo to put together an incentive package to compete with New Mexico, said Fletcher McCusker, chairman of the Rio Nuevo board.
He said film producers plan to spend $53 million locally and occupy 450 hotel rooms for approximately 100 days during the filming. There are 450 employees in town for the production.
Rio Nuevo pledged $1 million toward the incentive package, and the grand total is estimated to be over $10 million.
βWe have been passed over by the film industry for years because of New Mexicoβs incentives,β McCusker said. βThis wouldnβt have happened without the incentive.β
The hope is to continue to attract movie producers to the Tucson area.
βThere have been a rush of film projects in and and around Tucson lately, and weβre thrilled to have filmmakers embracing our area,β said Dan Gibson, a spokesman for Visit Tucson. βThey each bring both money and attention to our region, and itβs great to see the hard work of our film department pay off.β
