BANDON — Bandon Dunes has been hailed since its opening by the slogan, “Golf as it was meant to be,” harkening back to the foundation of the sport on links golf courses in Scotland.

The makers of an upcoming movie, “Golf in the Kingdom,” decided the courses at the resort north of town were similar enough to those across the Atlantic Ocean to be the setting for golf scenes for the movie.

Shooting for the movie, which is inspired by Michael Murphy’s book by the same name, will run for four weeks starting April 14, with scenes shot at the resort, in Bandon and at other South Coast locations.

Mindy Affrime, the movie’s producer, said a friend tipped her to Bandon Dunes as a possible site for the movie about four years ago and she quickly fell in love with the resort and its potential as a setting.

“You’ll never know where the golf is,” she said. “It will look like Scotland.”

Affrime and others in the production of the movie have been in the area looking for places to shoot the various scenes and taking care of the other details before the actual shooting begins.

But the preparation has been going on for several years.

Affrime, who has been in the film production business for three decades, has long wanted to produce a movie based on Murphy’s 1972 book, which she says is “not really about golf — more about the meaning of life.”

The book has sold more than 1 million copies and tells the story of a young American on his way to India to learn the meaning of life in 1956. He stops in Scotland to play one final round of golf at the fabled Burningbush Golf Course and spends 24 hours with local teacher Shivas Irons that changes his life forever.

“The basic premise is you don’t have to go to India — you can find yourself anywhere,” Affrime said. “For a lot of golfers, it’s a Bible, because it’s symbolic.”

Murphy has taken an active role in the film, co-writing the script with director Susan Streitfeld.

The author also will be in one of the scenes, singing limericks in a bar. That scene will be shot on-site at the resort inside McKee’s Pub, Affrime said.

She describes the movie as an independent, low-budget production.

The main actors are from Scotland and England and include David O’Hara (featured in “The Departed” and “Braveheart”), Mason Gamble (“Rushmore”), Frances Fisher (“Titanic”), Malcom McDowell                 (“Clockwork Orange”), Tony Curran (“The Extraordinary Gentleman”) and John Hannah (“Four Weddings and a Funeral”).

Local residents will be cast as extras, Affrime said.

The production wouldn’t be possible without the help of Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser, whom Affrime describes as one of her two angels on the project. Her other “angel” is the late Howard McKee, the resort architect, who showed her around Bandon Dunes and the surrounding area when she first started planning for the movie.

“The movie is dedicated to him,” Affrime said of McKee, who was an old friend of Murphy.

“Howard McKee was a real proponent of this,” said Bandon Dunes General Manager Hank Hickox. “I think he really was excited about it.”

Hickox said Keiser is an investor in the film and the resort has committed a variety of services for the production.

“A lot of people are involved behind the scenes,” Hickox said. “Human resources has been coordinating the housing for the film crew. The chef is involved in providing meals for the cast and the crew.”

Hickox added that Grant Rogers, the resort’s director of golf instruction, has offered to help educate anyone involved in the film about the nature of golf in Scotland in the 1950s.

“Naturally, there’s a high level of interest among the staff and the local community,” Hickox said. “You might end up seeing somebody you know in the movie, which is kind of a fun part of them being here.

“The whole resort is abuzz about this.”

Keiser was drawn to the project in part because the nature of the book “is consistent with the historic nature of our golf courses,” Hickox said, referring to the links- style layouts at Bandon Dunes, as well as the resort being a walking-only facility that encourages the use of caddies by the visitors.

Bandon Dunes could benefit from the movies as a form of promotion, but Hickox hopes the film also provides a boon to the entire area.

“It’s another form of economic development for the state,” he said. “There’s some goods and services and some dollars being spent by these people. Hopefully, it will provide a little boost of the local economy featuring its production and will serve to bring new business to the state in the long run.”

A 10-minute video promotion for the movie, which includes comments from Murphy and was shot at Bandon Dunes, can be seen on-line at http://www.findshivas.com/html/video.html.