Kevin Costner and Robin Williams are two actors that you would not normally associate with one another. That’s why it may come as a surprise that Costner beat out Williams to get one of his most iconic roles.
In a new interview, Costner has revealed that he narrowly beat out Williams to nab the role of Ray Kinsella in the classic 1989 film Field of Dreams.
Costner And Williams Vied For Field Of Dreams Role
“A good story requires a good script for it to somehow leap off the page and become a movie,” Costner, 69, told GQ magazine. “That little movie had gold dust all over it, not in the way that I thought it would be a big hit, whereas gold dust on it in the way it moved me personally.”
In Field Of Dreams, Ray is an Iowa farmer who hears voices and sees a vision telling him to build a baseball field in his cornfield. Throughout the movie, ghosts of legendary baseball players visit the field.
At the time the film was going into production, Williams was already a star. He had just been nominated for his first Oscar for Good Morning, Vietnam. He also starred in Dead Poet’s Society earlier in 1989. This cemented him as a serious actor and therefore a seemingly perfect fit for Field of Dreams.
“There was an interesting thing because Robin Williams, bless his heart, there was a moment when I asked the director, I said, ’You know, Robin Williams is a big star, as big as you ever wanna get,'” Costner recalled.
Find out more about this in the video below.
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Costner Wins The Role
Costner was stunned when he ended up being chosen for the role.
“So when he picked me to do it, kind of over Robin Williams, because it seems like a natural for Robin Williams, and he said, ’I’m pretty sure that Robin Williams hears voices in the corn. I’m kind of sure that you don’t. They’re gonna end up believing you, Kevin, because they’re gonna see how it works,'” he remembered.
In Field of Dreams, Ray continuously hears voices saying “If you build it, he will come,” referring to the baseball field he’s supposed to build on his farm.
“They might have said ‘voice,’ and I’m like pulling a piece of corn, I forget what happened, but it’s like, gee, I had to act like I heard a voice, right? So, I did,” Costner stated.
Check out Costner’s full comments on this in the video below.
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Costner And Williams Both Earn Film Success
In the end, it all worked out the way it was supposed to. Field of Dreams has become such a classic that it’s difficult to imagine anyone but Costner in the leading role.
Of course, both Costner and Williams would go on to have hugely successful film careers that saw them each win Oscars. Costner won for Best Picture and Best Director in 1991 for Dances With Wolves. Williams would later win his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for his work in Good Will Hunting.
Sadly, Williams died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63. As for Costner, he’s still making movies to this day. Earlier this month, he premiered the first installment of his four-part western epic Horizon at the Cannes Film Festival.
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