Being a notable and visionary director, Clint Eastwood has had a plethora of box office hits that he either starred in or directed. One of his movies that seemed to get a lot of hate and controversy was the 2014 story about U.S. Marine Chris Kyle.
Talking about American Sniper, Eastwood stated in an interview that the project was passed on by Steven Spielberg. According to the director, he did not hold back when the offer was made to him and called Spielberg to tell him that Eastwood has taken his leftovers again!
Clint Eastwood Took Steven Spielberg’s Leftovers Again!
Back before he was attached, Eastwood was reading Chris Kyle’s autobiography titled American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. Based on the life of U.S. Marine Chris Kyle, the director was clearly intrigued by it.
During an interview, Eastwood recalled the time he got a call from Dan Fellman to talk about a movie adaptation of the book. The director recalled that Steven Spielberg was attached to the project but Fellman told him that the Jurassic Park director moved on to some other project and the studio was really interested in hiring Eastwood for the project.
Clint Eastwood further went on to recall the conversation that he had with Spielberg later on and how Eastwood was taking leftovers from Spielberg.
“‘I’m taking your leftovers again.’ He was very supportive. We’ve worked together on many occasions and have known each other for many years,”
The director further noted that he had a chat with Chris Kyle’s widow Taya Kyle and he really understood how the whole family felt about Kyle’s heroics and his actions.
“I met his widow in Texas and she was very informative. She told me about how the family felt about the whole thing. It was a little bit touchy because I was seeing the family in mourning, but I had a good feeling about them.”
The director also talked about how he had to respect the family’s wishes at the end of the movie. Recalling the time when Taya called Clint Eastwood to make some changes in the final scene.
Clint Eastwood Had To Change The Ending of American Sniper
Before the film ended, the real-life Chris Kyle was gunned down by his friend who took him to a gun range. With Kyle’s death, the movie had to undergo changes in the script and the final version of the scene had to be changed. Screenwriter Jason Hall talked about what changes had to be made in the script.
“In the end, I think we felt that this was a film about Chris’s life and not about his death. We also wanted to be careful not to glorify the guy who did it. I didn’t want it to be the thing that was hanging over their heads for the very rest of their lives as the film that showed their father getting shot”
With controversies and action scenes, American Sniper stands at a rating of 7.3/10 on IMDB and a 72% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Clint Eastwood-directed movie is available to stream on Prime Video.
Source: The Wrap
