Kevin Costner Responds to John Mulaney’s Field of Dreams Oscar Moment: ‘Not a Bad Summary’

Kevin Costner has put his stamp of approval on John Mulaney’s hilarious, viral explanation of the plot of Field of Dreams at the Oscars on Sunday.

“Not a bad summary, @johnmulaney,” Costner wrote on his Instagram story Tuesday.

“Congrats to all the nominees and winners at @theacademy Awards Sunday night,” the actor added. “So many great performances to celebrate this year.”

Costner starred as a farmer from Iowa in the 1989 sports fantasy film directed by Phil Alden Robinson. Costner’s characters follows the command of a mysterious voice in a cornfield telling him to build a baseball field.

Field of Dreams Star Kevin Costner Gives Nod to John Mulaney

But Mulaney’s hilarious synopsis of the movie while introducing the Oscar for Best Sound was much funnier.

“Now, the Oscar for Achievement in Sound. You know, for years movies didn’t have sound, and then they figured it out. Some people say that the silent era was the golden era of film. These people are difficult and insane,” Mulaney began.

Then he quoted classic lines from Jaws (1975) andWhen Harry Met Sally (1989) — oh, and this year’s Spider-Man spinoff Madame Web, which was the brunt of more than one joke on Sunday.

Also Read: After John Mulaney’s Field of Dreams Oscars Moment, Fans Beg Him to Host 2025 Awards

“Or what about that moment in Field of Dreams when we hear, ‘If you build it, he will come,’ and then Costner does it, he builds a baseball field. Well, I guess he doesn’t build it, he mows down corn, and then there is a field, and then he’s like, ‘I’m gonna watch ghosts play baseball,’ and the bank is like, ‘You want to pay your mortgage?’ and he’s like, ‘Nah, I’m gonna watch ghosts play baseball.’ And then he finds James Earl Jones, who wrote The Boat Rocker, which I thought was a real book deep into my twenties. And he’s like, ‘People will come, Ray.’ He’s the only one with a financial plan,” Mulaney said.

“But what’s weird is Timothy Busfield pushes little Gaby Hoffman off the bleachers, and she falls down and she’s unconscious. Then Burt Lancaster is Moonlight Graham, and he comes up and he pats on the back a couple times, and he’s like, ‘Hot dog stuck in the throat,’ and then he can’t go back in the game. Because I guess there’s a rule in ghost baseball that if you leave the field at any point to become an elderly ghost and do the Heimlich maneuver, you can’t return to the field. I love Field of Dreams. That should win Best Picture, though they’ll probably go with one of this year’s. Here are the nominees for Achievement in Sound.”

The nominees for the category were The Creator, Maestro, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Zone of Interest, and Oppenheimer. The Oscar went to John Glazer’s Zone of Interest and was accepted by sound mixer Tarn Willers and sound designer Johnnie Burn. You can see the full list of last night’s winners here.

Field of Dreams cast also featured Ray Liotta, Ed Harris, Dwier Brown, Amy Madigan, Frank Whaley, Mike Nussbaum, Art LaFleur, Brian Frankish, Kelly Coffield Park, James Andelin, Anne Seymour, Lee Garlington, Larry Brandenburg, Charles Hoyes, Vanessa Scalera, Fern Persons, and Steve Eastin. The screenplay was written by Phil Alden Robinson, adapted from the book Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella. The film was produced by Charles and Lawrence Gordon, associate produced by Lloyd Levin and executive produced by Frankish.

You can see a screenshot of Costner’s Instagram story below.

Main Image: Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams. Credit: Universal Pictures.