Kevin Costner Remembers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s ‘Enthusiasm’ as Extras on Field of Dreams
Kevin Costner recalled meeting “college guys” Ben Affleck and Matt Damon while filming a scene in Fenway Park
Kevin Costner is reminiscing about a young Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
During his May 21 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Costner, 69, said he “absolutely” remembers filming a scene from 1989’s Field of Dreams that included the duo as extras in Boston’s Fenway Park.
“I did remember it,” the actor-director told Kimmel. “They were sitting in the stands, like college guys. And they would both lean in at the same time, lean back at the same time, look at each other at the same time.”
As the leading actor in the Phil Alden Robinson-directed baseball movie, Costner mingled with the stadium’s many background actors. “We talked and they had this big enthusiasm,” he recalled. “They were on fire.”
Kimmel, 56, then said he texted Damon asking about the experience. Jokingly referring to “the one who’s not allowed on the show” amid their long-running faux-feud, he said the Bourne star responded, “I literally had an Untouchables poster on my wall,” indicating he had been a fan of Costner’s movies.
While filming the Field of Dreams scene, Damon confirmed, Costner “came out and hung around with the extras between set-ups. I asked him what he was doing and he said, ‘Shootin’ the s—.’ And I laughed like a 12-year-old girl.”
Almost a decade later, the Boston-raised Damon, 53, and Affleck, 51, would have their Hollywood breakthrough, starring in 1997’s Good Will Hunting and winning Oscars for its screenplay. Meeting Costner, Damon said in his text to Kimmel, “was a big deal for us because he had the exact career that we wanted. He was very nice to us.”
Costner, an Oscar winner himself for directing and producing 1990’s Dances with Wolves, is following up that hit Western with Horizon: An American Saga, a multi-film project he has starred in, directed and co-written with Jon Baird.
Following its buzzy Cannes Film Festival premiere on May 19, Chapter 1 will premiere in theaters June 28. Chapter 2 will be released Aug. 16, while third and fourth installments are currently in development.
