\nClint Eastwood\u2019s film has already brought in $316 million (\u00a3278 million) in just three weeks on wide release, and has received acclaim from critics and the public alike. The film has been nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Bradley Cooper.
\nThe Super Bowl weekend also saw the announcement of plans for a Chris Kyle Day in Texas, plus an initiative backed by Michelle Obama to promote the image of veterans in movies. The First Lady has praised American Sniper for its \u201ccomplex, emotional depiction of a veteran and his family\u2026 [it] reflects those wrenching stories that I\u2019ve heard \u2013 the complex journeys that our men and women in uniform endure.\u201d
\nAmerican Sniper is inspired by Chris Kyle, who was famously killed in 2013 while he was mentoring troubled veteran Eddie Ray Routh, at a gun range. Chris\u2019 widow Taya Kyle has said that her late husband would be \u201cin awe\u201d of the film\u2019s success, which is based on his 2012 memoir of the same name.
\n\u201cPart of the beauty of it is that he was just so humble,\u201d Taya told People magazine. \u201cIt makes me really emotional when I think about how he would react.\u201d
\nBradley Cooper, who plays Chris in the film, has also said that he is pleased that the film is highlighting war veterans\u2019 struggles.
\nSpeaking at a luncheon for 2015 Oscar nominees on Monday, he said: \u201cYou never know when you make a movie that anyone is going to see it, so the audacity to think it would cause any sort of effect would be pretty presumptuous.
\n\u201cAny discussion that sheds light to the plight of the soldiers and the men and women of the armed services \u2013 for that discussion to occur is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"