Golf In The Kingdom Film Best Enjoyed With A Glass Of Pinot

Charles McGrath reveals a couple of interesting things about the long and winding road to getting Golf In The Kingdom on the big screen. The film arrives this week in select cities. (Thanks reader Jack for this).

The first involves the set:

For reasons of economy, the film was shot at Bandon Dunes, a golf resort in Oregon that looks more Scottish than much of Scotland, and Mike Keiser, owner of the resort, wound up feeding and housing the cast and crew free during the 20 days of shooting.

“It’s hard to escape Mindy,” he said last week. “Using ‘Golf in the Kingdom,’ she became an expert mooch. I think Michael approved, and I’m sure the Shivas character would have approved too.”

And then there is author Michael Murphy's take on the finished product:

Mr. Murphy said that at a certain point during the filming he was “advised to retire to the perimeter of the set,” but he nevertheless highly approves of the movie.

“I’ve seen it five or six times, and it depends on my mood what my reaction is,” he said. “The second time I had had a couple of glasses of wine and I thought it was hilarious. I said, ‘What have you done?,’ and they said, ‘No, it’s the same movie.’ ”