Hollywood and PGA stars light up the green carpet

With the being staged in the Atlanta Athletic Club this week, the world's best golfers are in town. And it was a golf-themed green carpet that glittered with the stars from the screen and the green Monday night at the world premiere of the film “Seven Days in Utopia” at .

“Seven Days in Utopia,” an inspirational film about golf and finding one’s true self, stars Academy Award winner Robert Duvall as an eccentric golf mentor and Lucas Black as an up-and-coming, but wayward golfer who is striving for fulfillment on the pro circuit.

The movie was based on the book "Golf's Sacred Journey: Seven Days at The Links of Utopia" written by David Cook. Cook explained that the film strived to be “the most authentic golf movie ever made.” The film features actual PGA golfers such K.J. Choi, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler.

Director Matt Russell explained what it was like working with golfers as actors.

“It was great the environment because all the actors are fixated with the golfers and vice versa,” he said. “All the golfers are fixated with the movie stars. It was an awesome experience. It ran very smooth on set.”

It also helped that the film’s lead actor is an amateur golfer with a scratch handicap. Black, a native of Speake, Ala., competes in amateur golf events throughout the Southeast when he’s not acting in movies such as “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” “Sling Blade” and “Friday Night Lights.”

Black’s co-star Robert Duvall doesn’t play golf and said he still won’t after making the movie. However, he said that didn’t affect his performance in the film.

“You come in and you do your research,” he said. “You do what you have to do. If you play a murderer, you don’t have to be a murderer. You do what you have to do to gain certain knowledge, but the emphasis goes to Lucas, who’s a legitimate golfer. So whether you like the movie or not, the best actor-golfer in a movie is Lucas.”

“Seven Days in Utopia” opens in theaters Sept. 2.