Field of Dreams

Field of Dreams (1989) is a movie about a man who becomes convinced that he's supposed to construct a baseball diamond in his corn field. It stars Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffmann, Ray Liotta, Timothy Busfield, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Whaley.

Trivia

• The original working title of the movie was the same as the book, Shoeless Joe, before it was renamed by the producers. Author W.P. Kinsella later reported that his original working title for the novel itself was Dream Field.
• During the filming, in the summer of 1988, the midwest was stricken with a severe drought. Water was brought in to irrigate the cornfield and make it look good for the movie. The act of plowing the healthy corn under, to build the ballfield, was met with real-life bewilderment by area farmers whose crops were suffering from the rainless summer.
• In the scene where Shoeless Joe Jackson talks to Costner's character about heaven, fog is seen creeping out of the corn field and across the diamond. This was not a special effect — the fog had actually come in at the time.
• The frequently-asked question, "Is this Heaven?" became a bumper-sticker slogan for Iowa for some years thereafter.
• The real Joe Jackson was a rural southerner, while Ray Liotta spoke with a northern city accent. Liotta also batted righthanded while Jackson batted lefthanded. These were known facts to the producers, who decided not to do as was done in The Pride of the Yankees, wherein Gary Cooper was filmed batting righthanded and then the film was flipped to simulate the lefthanded Lou Gehrig.
• In a unique trivia record of some kind, this was the second consecutive year that Kevin Costner had played a baseball-oriented character with a love interest named Annie. In 1988 he had starred with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins in Bull Durham.
• The diamond's outfield was much smaller than a regulation ballfield would have. For filming purposes, the corn lining the outfield needed to be closer to the cameras than normal major league dimensions would allow.
• The "Clean Shaven Umpire" listed in the closing credits was played by a member of the production team who normally sported facial hair. He has one speaking line in the film. After batter Archie Graham asks him to warn the pitcher about throwing beanballs, the umpire says, "Sure...", looks at the pitcher briefly, then turns to Archie and says, "...Watch out you don't get killed!"
• Among the thousands of extras in the Fenway Park scenes were a then-unknown Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Places featured in the film

Except for a few location shots for Boston, notably Fenway Park, much of the film was shot in and around Dubuque County, Iowa. Places that were used in the film were:

Related Topics:
Boston - Fenway Park - Dubuque County, Iowa

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• Dubuque was featured in the following:
• University of Dubuque- Kevin Costner's character Ray looks up information on Terence Mann in the school library. When Ray and Annie are walking to their truck Blades Hall and the Van Vliet main administration building are shown.
• Hendricks Feed. The store where Ray had gone to purchase supplies is located in downtown Dubuque.
• Terence Mann's apartment and neighborhood - This was located near 17th Street and Central Avenue in Dubuque.
• Airline Inn. This roadside motel is about three miles south of Dubuque along US Highways 61/151. This is the motel where Ray and Terrance stayed while traveling to Minnesota.
• Downtown gas station. The gas station where Ray gets directions to Terence Mann's place was originally just south of the intersection of 3rd and Locust Streets in Dubuque. The gas station is no longer there, torn down to facilitate economic development.
• Farley, Iowa. The PTA meeting about Terence Mann's books was at Western Dubuque Elementary/Jr. High School, in Farley.
• Galena, Illinois - Galena was used to represent parts of Chisholm, Minnesota.

The film used local roads quite extensively to represent the drive from Dyersville to Boston, Boston to Chisholm, and Chisholm to Dyersville. The following are some of the local roadways used:

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• U.S. Highway 20 - Part of the highway between the Illinois towns of East Dubuque and Galena was used to represent the drive from Boston to Chisholm. The Citgo station where Ray and Terrance stopped was along the highway west of Dubuque. When Ray and Annie are driving home from town, parts of the highway west of Dubuque are shown.
• U.S. Highway 52 - Parts of the highway north of Dubuque were used in the drive from Crisholm to Dyersville.
• U.S. Highway 151 - A portion of this highway that is about six miles south of Dubuque is seen in the scene where Ray and Terrance are in the van and talking about Ray's father.

Extras

Some from the community, as well as some more well known Hollywood actors were used as extras. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were extras in the scenes filmed at Fenway Park in Boston. Local radio personality Paul Hemmer also was an uncredited extra when he appeared as the husband who held "Beulah - the Angry PTA Mother" back after Annie asked her if she wanted to step outside. Local businessman and Iowa lawmaker Paul Scherrman also appeared as an extra in the film as an additional ballplayer. Pretty much the entire population of Dyersville was employed in the film's final scene.

Related Topics:
Ben Affleck - Matt Damon

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