Would “Field of Dreams” be as iconic as it is today if it wasn’t called “Field of Dreams?”
Believe it or not, the man who made one of the greatest baseball movies ever hated the title when he first heard it.
“It sounds like a room deodorizer,” moaned writer/director Phil Alden Robinson when he was told the final decision on the title by a studio executive. “Field of Dreams — now with lemon! That’s a terrible title!”
How “Field of Dreams” eventually became the perfect title involved some Moonlight Graham-style magic in a story straight out of Hollywood lore.
Robinson’s Academy Award-nominated screenplay was based on W.P. Kinsella’s novel “Shoeless Joe.” Robinson intended to use the same title for the movie, in which Kevin Costner plays Ray Kinsella, the farmer who builds a baseball field in his Iowa cornfield to bring “Shoeless” Joe Jackson back from the grave.
When Universal Studios showed the film to test audiences, the emotional wave of the story scored off the charts. But the title “Shoeless Joe” didn’t hit the same high notes. It was not giving the audience a clear picture of what the movie was about.
“People think it’s about a homeless man or that Kevin plays Shoeless Joe, and it’s just confusing for them,” Tom Pollock, Chairman of Universal Pictures, told Robinson.
So, how to choose the new title? There were literally hundreds of suggestions after studio executives solicited names from every employee who had seen the film.
Robinson was appalled at one of the suggestions, because it gave away the surprise reunion at the end of the movie — when Ray sees his father and plays catch with him, the emotional wallop that has the audience in tears.
“Dad’s Second Chance,” Robinson recalled with a laugh. “I thought, that’s great; let’s rename “Citizen Kane” ‘Rosebud is the Sled.’ Just give it away!”
The list of names didn’t do much to inspire Robinson. Mainly, it just disappointed him that the book and movie would not keep the same title.
But then Pollock, Universal’s chief exec, came back to Robinson and assured him that he had finally found the right one.
“We’ve got a great title,” Pollock said. “Field of Dreams.”
Visions of aerosol cans danced in Robinson’s head as he desperately tried to change Pollock’s mind. Robinson was steadfastly against calling it “Field of Dreams.”
“I fear that changing the title changes the experience of seeing the movie,” Robinson explained to Pollock. “The movie kicks into high gear when Shoeless Joe shows up. And if you don’t call the movie ‘Shoeless Joe,’ that scene might lose something.”
Pollock wasn’t buying it. He believed what the test audiences were telling him. However, he agreed to let Robinson screen the film to a new test audience with the new title. If it flopped, Pollock would reconsider.
“I was hoping that the test scores would go down,” Robinson said.
Alas, the scores under the new name soared. The people had spoken, and “Field of Dreams” it would be.
Robinson conceded defeat, and he knew there was just one thing left to do. He had to call Kinsella, the author, to break the bad news that his novel’s title would disappear into the cornfield just like Shoeless Joe does in the movie.
“The good news is that it’s testing really well, and people seem to really like the movie.’” Robinson told Kinsella. “But the bad news is we can’t call it ‘Shoeless Joe.’”
“Oh, I don’t care about that,” Kinsella told him. “That wasn’t even my title. That was the publisher’s title.”
Now, Robinson was the one who was confused. Apparently, Kinsella had a similar issue when his novel was published in 1982, capitulating to higher-ups on what would go on the cover.
“What was your original title?”Robinson asked.
“Dream Field,” Kinsella replied.
Robinson could only smile and laugh. Apparently, the same cosmic forces that drove Costner’s character across the country to find Terence Mann were working their sorcery here as well.
“I thought, ‘Okay, the universe is telling me to just accept it.’”
In the end, it was the perfect movie with the perfect title.
