Kevin Costner draws crowd of thousands back to “Field of Dreams”

The scene: Dyersville, Iowa. Actor Kevin Costner returned on Friday for the first time since filming concluded here for one of his greatest films, Field of Dreams, the infamous baseball field is said to look just like it did in the movie made 17 years ago. Costner joined about 5,000 people who packed the field for a free screening of the movie. The event, sponsored by the online movie rental company Netflix, is the fifth stop in a 10-city tour featuring classic movies at the locations that were featured in each movie.Filmed in Iowa back in 1988, the movie turned a plot of land owned by two local farmers into a mythic site still visited by more than 65,000 people each and every year. The movie is about a farmer, played by Costner, who becomes convinced by a mysterious voice to build a baseball field in the middle of his cornfield, based on the Ray Kinsella novel "Shoeless Joe."Stars like James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta and Burt Lancaster invaded the eastern Iowa town of Dyersville during filming. Since then, a new hotel has been added, the downtown has undergone a beautification and lighting project and several new companies have moved to town.The population, 4,035, has increased by about 100. Tourism fueled by the "Field of Dreams," the historic Francis Xavier Basilica and the National Farm Toy Museum still pairs with agriculture as the area's chief economic engines.Before the screening, Costner, wearing a base ball cap turned backward, played a musical set with his band. The concert was one of the first public appearances for the group, said Costner's publicist."I feel like I will forever be connected here to the state of Iowa," Costner told the crowd. "I've never lost my feel for what we did here. This was a perfect time for me to come back. This is our secret here tonight in the corn."The Netflix Rolling Roadshow screened Ferris Bueller's Day Off in Chicago,Illinois, Jaws in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and Clerks in Red Bank, New Jersey. The tour also includes stops in Colorado, Utah, Arizona before ending in San Francisco with the showing of Escape from Alcatraz.