When he played the lead role in “Field of Dreams” in 1989, Kevin Costner was already a global star. Two other actors still had their big careers ahead of them when they appeared as extras in the baseball drama…
At the end of the 1980s, Kevin Costner’s career really took off: After he had his final international breakthrough with Brian De Palma’s crime thriller “The Untouchables”, he starred in two successful sports films that further expanded his star status – “Annie’s Men” and “Field of Dreams”.
What the then 33-year-old probably didn’t know: During the filming of the baseball fantasy drama “Field of Dreams” (1989), two representatives of the next generation of Hollywood superstars were in the room at times – as extras.
“Field of Dreams” on Amazon*
In the famous game scene at Fenway Park, hiding in the stands two close friends who were about 17 and 15 years old at the time – and both dreamed of becoming world-famous actors themselves. We are talking about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, which you can only really see in the final film if you examine the scene in question frame by frame (and viewer by viewer) very closely. If you want to make the effort, we have included them here for you:
Kevin Costner still remembers the two star extras
Although they had absolutely nothing to do in the scene, Damon and Affleck stood out among the extras. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Costner even confirmed that he remembered the two young men:
“I remember them,” says the “Yellowstone” star, who is bringing the second part of his XXL Western epic “Horizon” to German cinemas on November 7. “They sat in the stands like students, […] they both leaned back at the same time and looked at each other while we spoke. And they had such great enthusiasm. They were on fire. I remember them, absolutely!”
Kimmel then read a text message from Matt Damon, who also remembers the “Field of Dreams” shoot well: “I remember it well. I had a poster of ‘The Untouchables’ hanging on my wall. Between the settings he hung [Costner] always with the extras. […] That was very important to us because he had exactly the career we wanted. He was very nice to us.”
It didn’t take long for Damon and Affleck to fulfill their wish: just eight years later, the two were on the Oscar stage to accept their Academy Award for the screenplay for “Good Will Hunting.” Affleck shot the Jack Ryan thriller “The Assassination” with “Field of Dreams” director Phil Alden Robinson in 2002 and greeted him with the following words: “I’m delighted to be working with you again.”
If you want to know which war thriller Matt Damon had his breakthrough with in 1996 and why he calls the role his most difficult to date, read the following article:
“The most difficult role I’ve ever had”: Matt Damon pushed himself to the limit for this war thriller
This is an updated re-publication of an article that previously appeared on FILMSTARTS. A similar article previously appeared on our French sister site AlloCiné.
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