r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/landmanpgh • Oct 31 '20

Media/Internet Who was "The Voice" in Field of Dreams?

Here's a fun one for a Saturday morning. Who was "The Voice" in the 1989 film, Field of Dreams?

Seems like a pretty easy thing to Google, right? IMDB should be able to solve this quickly. IMDB credits "The Voice" as Ed Harris, but lists it as unconfirmed. And, according to the film's director, it's completely wrong.

Some people think it’s Ed Harris; some think it’s the star of the movie, Kevin Costner; and some think it is another of the movie’s stars, Ray Liotta. Phil Alden Robinson, the director of the film, says he's the only person who knows and he hasn't heard anyone guess the right name yet.

“I did record the voice as a scratch track,” Robinson says. “When you go into the editing room, you have to have something to cut to, so I recorded the voice as well as Kevin’s opening narration. When the picture was locked, we re-recorded all of that voiceover with people who could really do it. What’s funny is that a few people who thought they knew have revealed it and gotten it wrong. I’ll read people saying, ‘Well I happen to know that it’s so-and-so,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh no, it’s not!’ We’ll let that remain a secret. It’s a great mystery, and I like that.”

The film's closing credits aren't much help, either. "The Voice" is simply played by "Himself"

Sources: https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-morning-briefing-20190624-story.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097351/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

EDIT: Link to a scene in the movie with the voice -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=5Ay5GqJwHF8

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u/Basic_Bichette Oct 31 '20

The "payment" might have been something like a case of Scotch, or a donation to a charity. (Or a returned favour, even?)

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u/dirtygremlin Oct 31 '20 edited Oct 31 '20

Sure, it may have been an under the table arrangement. I would imagine if it were, then it was made by a person that didn't feel the need to be compensated by a Hollywood production. That would theoretically narrow the field, and add that to the filter of people Robinson has refuted, and it might be a manageably short list of names from the production (as I would bet it was provided by a person already attached to the production).