Field Of Dreams Actor Dwier Brown To Visit St. Cloud [PODCAST]

Actor Dwier Brown, who played John Kinsella in the 1989 classic movie "Field Of Dreams," will appear at the St. Cloud Rox game Saturday night in St. Cloud.

Brown says he got into acting as a young man growing up on a farm in Ohio, adding that fame and stardom were not his biggest motivators in choosing the profession.

"Anyone who grew up on a farm knows it's lot of work," Brown said. "One thing that would get us out of work was putting on little plays and puppet shows."

"Basically, (acting) was motivated by getting us out of work."

Brown says he auditioned for Field of Dreams just as he would for any other movie, and ended up beating out over 200 others for the role of main character Ray Kinsella's dad.

"I don't think any of us had any idea it was going to be a success," Brown said. "Baseball movies were kind of a pariah in Hollywood, they hadn't had a lot of success with them.

"Fortunately, Bull Durham and Eight Men Out came out while we were shooting, so suddenly baseball movies were kind of en vogue again."

A couple of casting decisions nearly went very differently, as Jim Carrey was among the actors who auditioned to play Brown's character John Kinsella.

Even more fascinating is the other actor who was in contention to play the role of Ray Kinsella, which ended up going to Kevin Costner.

"Robin Williams was slated to play Ray Kinsella," Brown said. "Can you imagine Robin Williams and his father Jim Carrey?"

"It's the only role I ever beat Jim Carrey for, so I'll take it," Brown said.

Brown recently penned a book, "If You Build It... A Book About Fathers, Fate and Field Of Dreams." He will be signing copies of the book at Joe Faber Field on Saturday.