ABERDEEN - For Kevin Costner, working with animals was not one of the joys of "Dances with Wolves."

"I hated those wolves," the actor said Friday night in Aberdeen.

The actor took part in a "Dances with Wolves" retrospective as part of the opening night of the South Dakota Film Festival at the Johnson Fine Arts Center.

When he got onstage, he said: "Wow, you made my heart really big. Sometimes, when you come back to the scene of the crime, you kind of slink back. But this was a very victorious moment."

He said the film was a big part of his life. He also thanked the audience for going to his movies.

When he made "Dances with Wolves," he "wanted to tell a story that had a level of meaning to me." Costner said he couldn't make "Star Wars." He appreciates people who can, but he can't.

"I can make a film about men and women who carved out a life for themselves."

"Making movies has been a joy for me," he said. But he talked about his battles with studios to get the film made the way he wanted to make it. In Hollywood, "Whenever a movie gets made and you like it, it's almost a miracle," he said.

The extras who worked on the picture didn't earn a lot of money. But Costner wanted to make sure that the nation's first people played the Native American roles.

During the filming, though, the movie was in trouble because the extras weren't learning their lines. They looked great for the film, but he told them he might have to cut half their lines because they didn't know the material. After reading them the riot act, "they came back, and were ready to work. And they never will look as young and beautiful as they did in that movie," Costner said.

He talked about the trouble he had with re-enactors who worked on the film. They took themselves too seriously. The men who played Union and Confederate soldiers wouldn't talk to each other. One complained to Costner that they "were billetted too close to these guys."

Costner told him, "Listen, soldier, do you know anything about taking orders? Then you're going to start taking them."

In the film, Costner had his father shoot a gun onscreen. "When you direct your parents, it's really hard," he said.

His parents watched him direct every day of "Dances with Wolves." They must have enjoyed their time in South Dakota.

"When the movie was over, they left Los Angeles, they moved to Spearfish and have been here for the rest of their lives. I think it added 10 years to their lives. So I have South Dakota to thank for many things."