It's been 20 years since Kevin Costner melted female hearts in the 1989 big screen baseball crowd pleaser Fields of Dreams.
On Wednesday, the actor, now 54, celebrated the film's anniversary at a screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in Beverly Hills.
The film — about a man who builds a baseball field on his family farm in Iowa — nabbed Oscar nods for best picture, original score by James Horner and adapted screenplay.
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Costner revealed that he never thought the film would take off.
He said he agreed to shoot it because another project he was working on — the crime-drama Revenge — kept getting delayed.
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"I got into a very heated discussion with Ray Stark, the legendary producer. I said, 'I'm doing this little movie called Field of Dreams, and he said, 'No, you're not,' and I said, 'Yes, I am,'" Costner recalled. "Before it went to a lawsuit, I said 'You're a smart guy, figure it out.' And he did."
He said the film — which immortalized the line, "If you build it, he will come" — still speaks to him after all these years.
"This movie had this mythical thing," he said. "It has a lot to do with things unsaid in your life. I always considered this our generation's It's a Wonderful Life."
The Dyersville, Ia., field where the film was shot is still around and gets some 50,000 tourists a year.
"I did a concert there with my band two years ago," said Costner. "Like 8 to 10,000 people came. It was very sweet. The sun went down and the fireflies came out. There was a big giant screen set up in the cornfield and everyone had their lawn chairs and watched Field of Dreams. It was very Americana."
