Trivia

Studied screenwriting and film production under Kim Henkel, co-writer of the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), who has since co-produced several of his projects.

Has used a visual homage to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) in every one of his movies. In Up Syndrome (2000), the documentary's subject Rene Moreno wields a chainsaw above his head during an interview scene, there is a dead upside-down armadillo on the roadside in both Headcheese (2002) and Rio Peligroso: A Day in the Life of a Legendary Coyote (2004). Also in Headcheese (2002) are many of the original shocker's now famous locations. Other favorite visual nods are similar opening/closing title sequences, extreme closeups of frantic eyes and distant, wide horizon shots with a desolate road positioned along the bottom edge of the frame as a car slowly crosses the landscape - all of which are present in his debut narrative feature The Wild Man of the Navidad (2008).

Grandson of Jake Graves, who also worked in the movie business as a stunt driver of antique automobiles.

One of his first jobs was selling video cameras at a Best Buy in San Antonio.

Worked for Apple Computer, Inc. from 2000 to 2010 before leaving to direct. He has sited the company's artistic sensibilities as the main reason he was able to produce several of his early films while employed there.

Has premiered films at Slamdance, Tribeca Film Festival, Austin's Fantastic Fest, Dallas International Film Festival and Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival.

Originally studied Anthropology in college.

His production company name, "Greeks Productions," is derived from the surnames of co-directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks.

His father worked as an engineer for KENS-TV, the CBS affiliate TV station in San Antonio, Texas, while he was growing up. Mr. Graves often brought home broken or discarded cameras, then fixed them for Duane, who began experimenting with them at a very early age. Duane has often described this as the main reason he took an interest in filmmaking.

Attended Health Careers High School - a highly selective National Blue Ribbon school for students interested in careers in the medical field - in San Antonio, Texas.

Has visited hundreds of famous movie locations around the world, making a hobby of photographing them as they appear today. He has also worked many of them into his own films.

Selected along with Jay Duplass and Justin Meeks as one of Austin's top filmmakers to direct Slacker 2011 (2011), a remake of Academy Award Nominee Richard Linklater's debut film Slacker (1990). The segment by Duane Graves and Justin Meeks appears in the DVD bonus material of their Western Kill or Be Killed (2015).