"The Prince" leading man Jason Patric talks about the movie outside the Brickyard Bar in Mobile,Al. on Wednesday, Dec. 18 (Michael Brannon, FOX10)

MOBILE, Alabama – The powers behind "The Prince" have the sweetest things to say about movie-making in Mobile.

"This has been the best film experience that I've ever had. It's by far the highlight of my career to date," said director Brian Miller on Wednesday night, during a press conference at the Brickyard Bar on Dauphin St.

"The Prince" director Brian Miller talks about the movie and Mobile outside the Brickyard Bar in Mobile, Al. on Wednesday, Dec. 18. (Tamara Ikenberg/tikenberg@al.com)

"The locals of Mobile embraced us. They are some of the friendliest most wonderful people that I've ever had the opportunity to meet or work with."

Producer Randall Emmett of Emmett/Furla Films, feels the same way.

"The community was amazing; everybody from the restaurants to the hotels, to the laundromats, to the crews, to the Film Commission," he said. "Everybody wanted to make it work for us...It kind of felt like a home away from home."

Miller and Emmett aren't just paying the Port City lip service.

They are so impressed with the friendliness, freedom and fabulous locations Mobile offers filmmakers that they're making it a priority to bring more productions here.

"We're coming back in March. I can't say exactly what (we'll be doing,)" Emmett said. "We'll probably announce it within the Hollywood community after the holiday,"

In the meantime, "The Prince" pack is wrapping up filming before departing Mobile this weekend.

During "The Prince"'s presence in the Port City, downtown denizens have become accustomed to the sight of trailers and camera crews stationed around the RSA Tower and Battle House Hotel, the sound of various vehicles blowing up, and hot Hollywood stars like Bruce Willis, Jason Patric and John Cusack working and taking the occasional time-out to grab coffee at Serda's.

The movie's stars have also become accustomed to the Port City's politeness and talent for making them feel welcome and wanted.

"One of the things you find out quickly is southern hospitality isn't just an idiom," said the movie's leading man Jason Patric.

The movie centers on Patric's character Paul, the titular "Prince." He's a retired mob boss on a dangerous and delicate mission.

"I play a father whose daughter is going to college and she disappears so he has to find out where she is," he said. "And it turns out she has this dark side he wasn't aware of. And in the process, you find out he has this dark past she wasn't aware of."

To portray his complex character, Patric tunes into some very distressing emotional wavelengths.

"I'm a father so the idea of losing a child is devastating," he said. "So you put yourself there...and I have some dark days I can draw on."

In the scene Patric and his colleagues shot in and around The Brickyard after talking to us on Wednesday, Paul tries to gather information about his daughter's whereabouts from the folks inside the bar.

Director Miller sees "The Prince" as a contemporary take on a classic film genre.

"It's a modern day western. It's a story about a gun-slinger who twenty years ago made a mistake resulting in the death of some innocent people," he said. "He's a wanted man in the city he returns to...It's a story of redemption. It's a story of a man that's seeking to make right what he once made wrong in his life."

Mobile the movie star

Mobile has hosted several productions in years past, but 2013 is poised to be remembered as the year the city really became a star.

This year, Mobile and Baldwin County were among the most celeb-studded locations in the country outside of Hollywood and New York.

It all began in June when Nicolas Cage, Danny Glover and the rest of the cast and crew of "Tokarev" took up residence in town and stayed for practically the entire summer.

Then in November the psycho-thriller "Somnia" started shooting in Fairhope. That production brought a batch of stars including Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane to the area.

And while "Somnia" was still in progress, "The Prince" popped into the Port City.

A sparkling review of filming in Mobile from Richard Rionda Del Castro, a producer of "Tokarev," who is also involved in "The Prince," was pivotal to bringing "The Prince" to Mobile.

"When a film company comes into your area, they spread the word of how good it was to film there or how bad it was to film there and it goes quickly through the community," said Mobile Film Office Director Eva Golson in a previous AL.com story. "And I understand what they're hearing is Mobile is a very film-friendly city...They certainly have a great effect on our economy. We have another movie coming in January. We are scouting locations for it right now."

Golson said she couldn't reveal any more details about the coming production at this point.

So, what has made Mobile such a movie mecca?

In 2009, legislation was passed that allowed Alabama to offer attractive incentives to filmmakers.

Any film project that spends at least $500,000 in the state gets a 25 percent rebate on any expenses exceeding $500,000.

And if the project uses local talent to fill cast and crew positions, which all of this year's productions have done, the filmmakers get a 35 percent rebate on however much that talent gets paid.

"In a lot of the states incentives have collapsed," Emmett said. "When you have a state like Alabama, which popped up recently, which really embraces the film community, it becomes a real competitive place. The word travels quickly. You end up with gigantic movies. You could end up getting (something like) 'Terminator.'"

'A producer's dream'

Emmett said that the convenience of filming in a city that isn't already overrun by productions, bumper to bumper traffic, or jaded residents who feel irritated and inconvenienced by a shoot, also add to the appeal of shooting in Mobile.

He said The Battle House Hotel has played a big role in making the cast and crew feel comfortable.

"That hotel has such a grand feel to it...The Battle House has been available in giving us both accommodations and allowing us to film in the hotel, so that's been really convenient," he said. "Being set up at the Battle House, having our production offices a block away, having most of the filming in and around Mobile, I mean, that's really like a producer's dream."

Emmett said he's eaten at the Joe Cain Cafe about twenty five times, and that Bruce Willis also enjoyed a meal there.

"The first night we got here we took him to dinner," Emmett said. "We took over the Joe Cain Café."

The Bull restaurant on Dauphin St. is also one of Emmett's favorite Mobile food destinations because"I'm a steak fanatic," he said.

The incentives and convenience wouldn't be worth much without picture-perfect places to shoot, so it's fortunate that Mobile has such a variety of versatile and stunning scenery.

From the RSA Tower, to the quirkily majestic Masonic "Temple Downtown," Miller was dazzled by the "robust visual architecture" at his disposal, and the ease he had accessing the spectacular sites.

He said that before filming began he walked his beagle Houston around the city and marveled at all the possibilities for brilliant backdrops.

"The locations and the production values are just through the roof," he said. "We were able to really transform the city into our own personal back lot. This is the type of city you can dress up, dress down," Miller said. "You can kind of make it what you want."

In the case of "The Prince," Mobile is standing in for The Big Easy.

"We really shot the city out even though we're doubling it for New Orleans," Emmett said. "Now that I know Mobile and that I've spent time here, going forward on other films that we're developing to come here, we'll just (set them) in Alabama. It's a lot easier."