'Field of Dreams' star Kevin Costner explains why beloved film has stood test of time
Randy Peterson
DYERSVILLE, Ia. — Does Kevin Costner get teary-eyed when watching the "Field of Dreams" movie all these years?
Without a doubt. Even 32 years after its release, he still feels that tug in his gut watching the beloved baseball film.
“I’m moved by it. I am,” he said during a press conference Thursday before the Yankees and White Sox met in the first "Field of Dreams" game not far from where the movie was filmed. “Somewhere along the line, if you have some unfinished business, that movie starts to take over.”
That grabbed him during the last scene of the movie. He asked his father, “Do you want to have a catch?”
And play catch they did, and Costner even acknowledged Thursday the backstory to the Midwest awkward, “Do you want to have a catch?” line.
“It was like fingers on a chalkboard to me,” he said. “I grew up with, 'Do you want to play catch?' Not, 'Do you want to have a catch?'"
Costner revealed it was a regional line. Some places, it’s "Do you want to have a catch?" Other places, like Iowa, it’s “Do you want to play catch?”
The script called for the non-Midwestern version, and that’s the way the iconic line stood.
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Just like the movie, however, that line has withstood the test of time. Costner, probably better than anyone, knows that.
He returned to Dyersville for the 25th anniversary of "Field of Dreams." He brought his two boys.
“I was throwing grounders to them, when I looked over and said to myself 'There’s something going on,'" Costner said. “There was a line (of people), and suddenly something came over me.
“I whispered to the boys that there’s a bunch of men standing up over there that want to play catch with me,” Costner said. “A lot of the attention comes to me, and it happens all the time. My boys understand that.
“My boys looked at me, and they peeled away. I probably threw six balls to 25 guys in the line. I could see how happy they were. It’s my life. There’s a lot of things that go with it.”
Like playing catch, or having a catch, with grown men.
“I knew the movie had a chance to be great,” he said. “That movie really held its (plot) line. It was a perfect little movie that climaxed to 'Do you want to have a catch?'"
Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been writing for the Des Moines Register for parts of six decades. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at @RandyPete.