Amazon's A Course Called Ireland was not supposed to be a Bill Murray TV show, but that's pretty much what we got - not that Tom Coyne is complaining. (Murray is, a little.)

A Course Called Ireland, an adaptation of Coyne's 2009 book of the same name, premieres Sunday on Paramount+. The six-episode, 30-minutes-per-episode series is as breezy as the Irish coast's weather. Its original intention was to retrace the journey chronicled in Coyne's bestseller - the golf writer once walked the island playing every golf course it had to offer - but this version of A Course Called Ireland became, as Murray grumpily laments in at least one episode to a director,  The Bill Murray Fucking Show. 

Murray has time for pretty much everyone who wants a photo - it is the production crew taking the professional videos he'd like to avert the lenses of.

 I'm heavy in the show. For an executive producer, that's about as heavy as you can get,  Murray told The Hollywood Reporter.  I don't want to complain about that. I did my complaining then. It's too late to complain. 

I'm on a Zoom call with Murray, who is wandering the streets of Boston solo after sunset, and Coyne, who is sitting in a house in the Carribean. In a bucket hat and without a care in the world, Murray speaks kindly but candidly about making his buddy Coyne's TV dream come true.

 I thought I was going to be an executive producer who would just show up and wait for the fresh croissants and stuff, not do much of anything,  Murray, who has only seen the first two episodes, explained.  If it comes back to being about Tom's book, I'm going to be happy - I was not happy that they were sort of making it a little bit too much about me. 

Coyne is cool with whatever. He's probably just relieved to have finally optioned this thing after 17 years of trying. I asked if he thinks the show gets made without the carrot of marketing it as a Bill Murray golf series.

 I'm realistic. I knew that when the producer bought it, that a Tom Coyne-headlined show was not going to be produced by Skydance Sports on Paramount+ and the BBC and all those things, right? I k
#hollywoodreporter  #podcastdailynews