Kevin Costner Recalls Meeting Young Ben Affleck and Matt Damon As Extras On ‘Field Of Dreams’ Set: “They Were On Fire”

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kevin Costner reflected on one of the defining films of his career, 1989’s Field Of Dreams. While discussing the film, host Jimmy Kimmel brought up the fact that his nemesis Matt Damon was actually an extra in the film along with Ben Affleck, and Costner met the two young men, who were not yet famous, on the Boston set.

“During Field of Dreams, you were at Fenway Park and there were two extras in the crowd, and those extras were young Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Do you remember meeting those guys?” Kimmel asked.

Costner replied, “I did remember them,” before explaining, “They were sitting in the stands, like, college guys, and they came up, and they both leaned in at the same time, leaned back at the same time, looked at each other at the same time as we talked.

“And they had this big enthusiasm. They were on fire,” Costner said. “I do remember them, absolutely.”

Kimmel then said, “I texted one of them, the one who’s not allowed on the show,” referring to Damon, with whom he has an ongoing fake feud.

“I asked him what he remembered about it,” Kimmel said, before revealing Damon’s response.

“‘I remember it well. I literally had an Untouchables poster on my wall’ — loser,” Kimmel interjected, before carrying on with Damon’s reply. “‘He came out and hung around with the extras between setups. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, shooting the shit. and I laughed like a 12-year-old girl.’ Still the way he laughs,” Kimmel told Costner.

“‘It was a big deal for us,'” Damon’s response continued, “‘because he had the exact career that we wanted. He was very nice to us.'”

It would be another five years before Damon and Affleck would write their star-making film Good Will Hunting, but prior to their rise to fame, the two were known for cutting their teeth in locally-shot movies and TV shows, including School Ties and Mystic Pizza.