Field of Dreams Debuts: Iowa Time Machine April 21, 1989

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On April 21, 1989, the Academy Award-nominated film  “Field of Dreams” was released in theaters. Starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, and Ray Liotta, the filmmakers spent six days a week shooting the iconic “if you build it, they will come” story of Ray Kinsella’s supernatural brush with Shoeless Joe Jackson throughout the summer of 1988 near Dyersville.

Universal Pictures accepted the project in 1987, based on W.P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel Shoeless Joe. Initially also titled “Shoeless Joe,” executives decided to rename the project “Field of Dreams.” Casting agents first approached Tom Hanks for the lead role; however, Kevin Costner ultimately ended up playing Ray Kinsella. 

Weather and scheduling constraints slowed filming after the kick-off in May 1988, as did a long wait for corn to grow at one of the film sites. Although the farmhouse stood on Don Lansing’s land, the baseball field scenes took place next door at Al Ameskamp's farm. The crew shot interior scenes first at a farm near Dyersville while workers frantically irrigated the incoming corn to an acceptable level for filming. 

Crews flew in from Dodger Stadium and the Rose Bowl laid sod to complete the famous corn-fenced field in time for a strict shooting schedule. Over the summer, the story of Kinsella plowing under his corn to construct a baseball field attracted the ghosts of the infamous 1919 Chicago Black Sox. Screenwriter Phil Alden Anderson settled on the iconic final scene featuring a long line of headlights fading into the horizon during a lunch with the Iowa Chamber of Commerce, and over 2,500 vehicles worth of local extras drove through a blacked-out Dyersville to the field site. The film was released on May 5, 1989. #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryCalendar