Eastwood Says American Sniper Covers The Irony Of War

American Sniper, the biography of American marksman ace Chris Kyle, was originally said to be a production slated for Steven Spielberg (director) and Bradley Cooper (star).  But last year both pulled out. Clint Eastwood was approached to take the reigns.

Eastwood was initially cautious of taking on the project stating: “I called Spielberg and said, ‘Steven, I’m always doing your leftovers! Why’d you bail out of this thing?’ ” Eastwood says with a chuckle. “Then he came over one day and we talked for a couple of hours about it.”

Eastwood describes “Sniper” (in which he does not star) as a movie about the irony of war, a theme he has previously explored in films such as “Heartbreak Ridge” (about the U.S. invasion of Grenada) and his 2006 Iwo Jima diptych.  Expectations are high for American Sniper, if Lone Survivor was a gung-ho Afghan war tale, which isn’t a bad thing, perhaps American Sniper will be a more level headed look at it.

Source: [Variety]