You're the one they're calling the Legend. You've got like 24 confirmed kills.
Well, who's counting?
That's fucking badass.
We took this guy who was iconic in the world that he lives in and moved in.
And they called him the Legend.
And we told his story in as human a way as possible.
Your hands feel different.
This is a human story about people...
who struggle within the world of war and within the world of family.
And this is about a man who saved many, many lives.
I think it really brought home the idea...
that it's not just the soldier that goes to war, it's the whole family.
It's not about them.
It's about us.
You have to make it back to us.
It's not just a big pro-war picture.
It shows the toll war takes on you.
American Sniper is about the soldiers' sacrifice...
and what we're asking them to give when they go to war...
and what war takes from them.
You're my brother...
and they're gonna fucking pay for what they did to you.
It's an exciting movie. It has humor. It's a good love story.
But at the end of the day, you also felt...
we were doing something special, we were doing something true...
and maybe doing something hopefully profound.
The journey that led to American Sniper...
began with producers Peter Morgan, Andrew Lazar...
and screenwriter Jason Hall...
and the provocative stories they'd heard...
about a legendary military sniper named Chris Kyle.
We were interested in Chris's story...
because we had heard about the exploits of Chris...
and the incredible things he did in four tours of duty.
So we were very, very excited about his story...
even before the HarperCollins book came about.
I was interested in a warrior of that caliber.
He had been in the service and in the SEALS...
and at war for almost a decade.
And so the idea of someone who had gone to war that many times...
and sounded like Achilles and then had come back...
and the effect of war on men is interesting to me...
and I wanted to see what it'd look like on him.
Jason went down to Texas...
and found Chris to be really a hard nut to crack, but also fascinating.
I got to this hunting ranch that he was working with some guys...
and I walk in and there's Chris and 50 Texas cops.
And so it's me, the Hollywood screenwriter, and, you know, 50 pretty grizzly guys.
I think that Chris and the fellow law enforcement officers there...
wanted to kind of get a piece of the kid from Hollywood...
and see what he was made out of.
Chris barely spoke to him.
He wasn't very talkative, he wasn't very chatty.
And I asked his friends, I said, "I keep asking him questions.
Why won't he talk to me?"
And they're like, "He's a sniper. You know, he sits and he waits."
Jason had to really work to get Chris to open up to him.
That night, they got a little— Everybody got a little rowdy.
And there was a SWAT guy who was calling me all kinds of names...
and just, you know, giving me a rough time.
And Chris still wasn't talking to me.
And so this guy said one too many things and I threw him in a headlock.
And I took him down.
They didn't know he was actually a pretty good wrestler. Ha, ha.
State-champion high-sohool wrestler.
So he was able to gain the respect, I think.
And then Chris was like, "Hey, you're all right. What do you wanna know?"
NARRATOR'. Having gained Chris Kyle's trust, screenwriter Jason Hall made it his mission...
to discover the true character of the man whose story he yearned to tell.
I came in looking for something, and it was there...
and it was like, "Wow, this guy has seen something.
This guy has been to the other side, and he's not quite entirely back."
There was a torment, you know, in his eyes, and it wasn't comfortable.
NARRATOR'. Jason Hall's initial screenplay painted a portrait of Chris Kyle...
drawn from classic archetypes of warriors throughout human history.
Jason started to form a story around it.
And it was really like a modern-day Achilles, is what we came up with.
Chris is the very extreme of what a soldier is.
Chris is Achilles. He's that guy.
And so everybody looks up to him.
And what Jason and I decided to do was not try to dress it up.
Not try to make it nonlinear, not try to add anything to it.
Jason always says—
In developing his material, he says, "Just tell the truth."
And so we created a very straightforward narrative...
and a very straightforward character which serves Chris.
NARRATOR'. With their first draft in hand, Peter Morgan and Jason Hall...
began looking for the right actor to play Chris Kyle.
We had a list of guys that we were thinking about...
and Bradley's name popped off that list as somebody who...
if he's willing to dive into it, could just hit this thing out of the park.
And I pitched him what I thought that, you know, the story was that I wanted to tell...
and he responded to it immediately.
And he and I talked about it quite a bit.
I hadn't read American Sniper: The Autobiography at that point.
And I just loved the idea of this.
I've always been in love with the genre, the war genre, since I was a kid.
Movies like The Deer Hunter, and Apocalypse Now and Platoon...
were things that always resonated with me.
And I was always obsessed with the plight of a soldier when I was a kid.
And he was elemental in finding the moments for Chris...
and the transformation of this character...
and who he becomes and what he almost loses in the process.
I really got excited about it. I thought I hadn't really seen a character study...
about a soldier in a long time, since maybe Born on the Fourth of July.
And then after that is when I actually got to know Chris.
When Chris first talked to him, Chris was on the phone and said:
"All right, then.
Only thing I'm gonna have to do is...
tie you to the back of my truck and drag you down the street.
Gonna have to knock some of the pretty off of you."
Bradley just kind of came in and was able to Convince Chris.
Like, "Listen, I'm gonna take this real seriously.
If I'm gonna play you, I'm gonna do it rough...
and I'm gonna want you to roll me around in the dirt...
and put me through the paces."
And that meant a lot to Chris.
With Bradley Cooper on board, Jason Hall and Peter Morgan...
reached out to fellow producer Andrew Lazar...
hoping to find a home for the film at Warner Bros.
And then the unthinkable happened.
I got the draft on a Friday.
Wasn't gonna share with anyone. I was gonna read it and do notes with Jason.
I just had a great day at the beach and was gonna start my weekend reading.
And at around 5:25 I got a text from Jason.
And it just said, "Chris has been murdered."
And I said— I—
I didn't even know what to— How to react.
It hadn't even hit the news services, and I kept on going online.
And by about I would say 7:00 Pacific Standard Time...
the news started to report that there was a shooting at a shooting range...
and then later that night it identified it was Chris. And it was heartbreaking.
Wasn't gonna share with anyone. I was gonna read it and do notes with Jason.
and I, like— I, like, opened it, and I start bawling.
Jason Hall called me and I thought, "Wait, what?"
It just didn't— Nothing— Nothing made any sense.
"He's already home. Wait, no, he's already home. He made it.
He did four tours. He's okay."
"No, he was killed by another vet." "What?"
The tragic murder of Chris Kyle changed American Sniper...
from a story with a happy ending into something else entirely.
As the creative team tried to regroup...
Chris Kyle's widow, Taya, made a fateful decision.
She ended up calling 10 days after the funeral...
and said, "If you're gonna do this, I want you to do it right.
And this means more to me and to us now than it did 10 days ago."
And so we started talking on the phone...
and we spent a lot of hours, countless hours...
let's say a couple hundred hours on the phone.
And it was this chance for her...
to secure his legacy and make sure that it was done right.
I was a grieving widow in the midst of the biggest trial of my life...
and he was part friend, part writer, part therapist.
He also did not have to stay up till 2 in the morning...
to talk to me on the phone.
It meant that much to him to get it right.
I was very inquisitive...
and I didn't pull any punches, and I was asking really hard questions.
And she was able to provide another side to Chris that wasn't in the book.
And so I got to hear this whole other side of his story.
And it changed the entire movie.
The movie wouldn't be what it is without Taya Kyle.
Without Taya opening up their life to us.
Jason went back and we talked about reframing the story...
and making it much more about the relationship between the soldier and the family.
And the almost schizophrenic nature of having to go from tour to home, back to tour.
What I got from talking to Taya in those hours and hours and hours on the phone...
was how beautiful this story was between this man and his wife.
Because you saw this guy who was sacrificing so much...
and who was under these extreme, extreme situations...
and was still able to be the kind of husband that he was able to be when he came home...
and still be the kind of father that he wanted to be.
That was the key to making this movie very human and real...
unlocking those areas where people can relate to...
who have gone through that experience and say:
"That actually has a glimmer of reality to it." It's because it actually is real.
Armed with a more sophisticated screenplay...
that balanced Chris Kyle's military career with his home life...
the producers began to look for the right director.
The first director attached to the project as far as I know was Steven Spielberg.
And he had worked with Jason on the script.
They were going to do it at Warner Bros. and for some reason that deal fell apart.
Clint and Steven have a close relationship. They really enjoy each other's company.
So I think that Steven was quite pleased...
that if anyone was gonna take over the project, it would be Clint.
ironically, Chris Kyle had the same instinct as Steven Spielberg.
The only director that Chris ever mentioned as wanting to tell his story was Clint Eastwood.
- The only director. - I think Chris wanted Clint Eastwood...
like he wanted a Ferrari.
I don't think he thought there was a pig's chance in hell he was getting Clint Eastwood.
The studio called and asked...
if I'd be interested in being involved with this picture.
And, ironically, I was reading his book.
I was down to about the last 30 pages.
And I said, "Let me finish the book and then call you back."
And I called them back the next day and I said:
"Do you have a script on the project?"
And they did. They had a screenwriter and a script. 80 I read that.
When we first got the script, it was sort of unanimous amongst all of us...
and especially between Clint and I, that it was extremely effective...
in terms of Chris's experience at war...
and his experience at home.
Everybody seemed to be on the same page. They thought it was an exciting story.
NARRATOR'. To bring the true story of Chris Kyle to the screen...
the producers knew they would have to go to the source.
When Clint and I started the project, Chris Kyle had already passed away.
So neither of us got a chance to meet him or know him.
So really the only way to get to know him was through his wife, Taya.
Bradley and I took a trip down to Texas and met with Taya.
Met the family and the kids. He has two adorable kids.
It was just an incredibly intimate experience researching this movie.
I didn't view them as Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper...
coming to my house. I viewed them as people that I'm gonna need to work with...
to really give whatever I can give to contribute to this project.
You know, I haven't changed very many things from when Chris was alive.
You know, his closet's the same.
I can't bring myself to change it yet.
And so they got to see just sort of our life.
I got to see hundreds of hours of footage of Chris...
just behaving with his family, with his two children.
Before his children were born, when they were born.
And then, you know, thousands of photographs...
e-mail exchanges of all four tours between Taya and Chris.
It was very informative, because we got an idea of the guy without actually seeing him.
I had to pretty much beg Clint to put his feet up on the coffee table...
but by the time he finally did, it was like, "Ah, now we're good." You know?
And she just told us so many stories, and a lot of them are in the movie.
And it was important for me, too, to see them as far as casting the picture.
So when I cast those characters in the picture, starting with Taya on down...
I had to have people that I thought could effect...
that same kind of enthusiasm she had.
Casting the role of Taya Kyle was no small task.
Dozens of actresses were screen-tested.
Among the many tapes that were submitted was Sienna Miller.
None of us had seen her do a role like that.
She had such a natural performance on tape that it just bowled us all over.
It was— Right away we all knew that she was the top candidate.
She's a very good actress. I've liked her in other things that I've seen along the way.
But she came in and did a reading for us, and she was splendid.
You were right. The doctor says it's a boy.
Like Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller had the opportunity...
to enrich her performance by going directly to the source.
Taya and I Skyped a lot. I live in London.
And she's in Texas now. So we met via Skype.
The wonder of the modern world.
And we talk on the phone a lot.
And then she came to L.A. before we started shooting and we spent a day together.
Sort of crying and hugging, and it was amazing.
She's a really formidable woman.
Taya comes across like she may kick your butt, or she'd give you a hug.
She brings all of that heart to it...
but she also brought some of that toughness.
I admire her so hugely for her resilience and her graciousness...
in being as accommodating as she was to me...
and trying to understand how she felt.
Have you heard from them?
I wanna have them nearer the door. Then we'll get...
This was a movie about snipers. Most of it takes place up on rooftops.
So we needed an urban landscape...
that felt like Iraq.
So we looked around at a few places and Rabat, Morocco, seemed like the ideal choice.
Morocco was especially good for the architecture of the towns.
It's very much like Fallujah. There's sort of a style that they use over there...
that you can't mimic here.
After over a year of script development...
followed by months of casting and preparation...
American Sniper began production on location in the Middle East.
A mark. B mark.
When you start a movie on location, no one goes home to their homes.
You go to a hotel. You go to the same hotel.
So really being over there for three weeks and bonding...
I think some of the best war footage was shot in Morocco.
Especially doing a movie like this about war, being away from your home...
and being in a new environment is sort of unsettling.
And I think that was very useful to the actors...
to feel kind of out of place like a soldier would.
And it just enabled people to really be together not just on-screen but off-screen.
So by the time we hit California to do the rest of the movie...
there was a real strong sense of bond and camaraderie with the actors.
We were able to go do two six-day weeks in Rabat, Morocco.
And where we shot in Rabat has such a specific energy...
and the people there were actually wonderful...
but it is a whole different world than Los Angeles and much of America.
More than anything, you realize just what it's like to orient yourself...
as a soldier in those areas, because you're basically clearing houses...
which means you're setting up on a place...
and then basically going through and making sure everything is safe.
So you're "clearing," meaning going through each house one at a time.
These are very narrow Stairways. Five-story walk-ups.
You have 80 pounds on your back, and if you're a sniper, you have a huge weapon also.
So just being able to, quite frankly, maneuver within that space was very informative...
and you just realize just how difficult the job is.
We hired Jim Dever, who's been with us on a number of war pictures.
Jim is an extremely knowledgeable guy...
and made sure that we had all the right equipment...
and all the right uniforms.
Being a true story, like American Sniper really is...
we have to make sure everything is accurate. They have all the correct weapons...
of those time periods, from '03 to '08, and the weapons that Chris Kyle carried.
Jim ended up finding all of the tanks and helicopters and planes...
that we were able to modify to make the whole picture as real as possible.
We used a real military from Morocco.
So I was working the Moroccans' army. We had tanks from there and Humvees.
And you could see the big scope of the movie, when you see it, it looks really like Iraq.
That's why we filmed in Morocco for the wide shots and everything else.
And then we were fortunate enough to have Kevin Lacz.
He had been instrumental to Jason during the writing of the script...
so we wanted to meet with him.
lfAmerican Sniper had a secret weapon, it was Kevin Lacz...
one of Chris Kyle's fellow soldiers from SEAL Team 3.
Kevin Lacz was assigned to train me.
Kevin had done two tours with Chris in Iraq as a Navy SEAL sniper also.
I really just thought he was incredible, and he taught me so many things.
Was supposed to train Bradley, do long-range sniper work.
We did a three-day course, and two hours into it, Bradley's like:
"You ever consider playing yourself in the movie?"
And I'm like, "I don't really know about my acting skills, but I'll see what I can do."
I just thought he had a great face and voice...
and he was a character in the movie...
and I thought, "Why would we ever hire somebody to play you, when—?
Would you play you?"
And it became obvious to Clint and Bradley and all of us...
that he might as well play himself if he could pull it off.
Having him there, having a real SEAL there, really upped my game.
When you're trying to perform a maneuver...
with an actual SEAL, it just is invaluable, as opposed to all actors.
With the help of Kevin Lacz, Bradley Cooper began the process...
of becoming Chris Kyle, starting with transforming his normally slender frame.
When we went down there Bradley was 180 pounds or something like that.
And when we started, he says, "Well, I'm going to have to get bigger."
I was really light when we started. I was like 185 pounds.
And I think in the end I was almost 238, 235, I think.
Down, down, down...
I had to become that big and talk like him so that I believed I was him.
And if I believed I was him, then there's a chance you would believe it...
because if I didn't believe it, there's no way in hell you're gonna believe it.
There's a weight-lifting scene in the movie...
and Bradley actually lifted. Those were not fake weights.
And I think it was well over— I think it was 425.
The training that I went through with this incredible trainer, Jason Walsh...
consisted of just heavy weights...
no cardio for all the months that we were prepping and shooting...
and just eating basically upwards of 6000 calories a day.
And that was a dead squat that we would do.
So I pitched to Clint, "Why don't we just come around and you just hear this clanking?"
And it's a beautiful shot. It's when he's about to go back home...
after his first tour, and his mind is racing.
And we just wanted to show just how powerful he was.
So I did say to Clint, "Let's just put the weight on. I can do it."
The most he could do is like seven. Just when the camera came around, like:
"Oh, my gosh, I hope the camera's gonna get there."
Because I was feeling for him. Like, "No. How many more can he do?"
I said, "Just film it. I can do it."
I think he was worried, but we did it like three or four times.
In addition to his physical transformation...
Bradley Cooper underwent extensive sniper training.
The research process was when I was sort of bowled over...
by what a Navy SEAL sniper has to do.
I mean, I was very ignorant to what it actually means...
to actually line up a target.
You have to take, for example, into consideration...
the rotation of the Earth, because obviously the world isn't flat.
So as the target is further and further away...
the rotation of the Earth is gonna influence the pathway of the bullet...
along with windage and so many other things.
Just sniping with real bullets, live ammunition, which I got to train with...
which was invaluable, that alone, realizing the power of a gun.
It was so impressive to see how Bradley transformed...
and was committed to Chris Kyle.
You could see his level of commitment every day.
And I think it was like it inspired us.
He could have made a very good movie without doing all the work he did to be Chris.
He has the talent. He's very gifted at his craft.
No, we can't do that. We need you on overwatch.
- If I'm on the street— - Look, house to house is the deadliest job here.
You got some sort of savior complex?
I just want to get the bad guys, but if I can't see them, I can't shoot them.
All these guys? They know your name, and they feel invincible with you up there.
- They're not. - They are if they think they are.
Why don't you just keep banging on the long gun.
We'll let these dogs sniff out Zarqawi.
People see this movie, they get the heart, the soul, the character...
the real Chris, not one-dimensional.
Multifaceted Chris.
There was this psychic element to it...
where somewhere along the way he picked up some element of Chris Kyle...
transforming his voice and his body...
where I'd be watching the monitor and he'd stand a certain way...
and it was kind of over his shoulder, and just his aura...
you could feel Chris Kyle, and I'd just get these goose bumps down my arms.
You know, I'd met Chris, and I'd seen him, and I'd hung out with him.
And it was like, you look and you're like, "Holy cow. That's Chris."
I did feel like I had Chris with me the whole movie...
as sort of mystical as that sounds. I can't believe I'm actually saying it.
But that is what I felt like. There was a reason why I felt so confident and at ease...
and able to just dip into any scene, because I felt him there.
Bradley Cooper's commitment to American Sniper...
went beyond playing the lead role.
He was also one of the film's producers...
involving himself in every phase of the production.
In fact, Cooper's commitment reminded his director...
of another young actor he once knew.
He has great interest in the whole project and every aspect of it.
He's a very activist actor, as I was when I was young.
I was interested in the overall project...
and that's probably what drove me into being a director.
And I probably would suspect that in the future years...
he would be wanting to direct films himself.
All right, Cole.
Well into his eight decade, directing his 35th feature film...
Clint Eastwood's professionalism and sheer stamina...
inspired everyone on the production team.
Clint is the quintessential leader.
When Clint was in Morocco, he didn't sit down.
He'd be on set all day long in the hot sun, and I'm like:
"Oh, my gosh, please, have a seat."
You wouldn't want to sit down. When you're around set and Clint's working...
you actually don't want to sit down, because he never sits down.
Clint is— What I found him to be was very instinctual.
He really trusts himself, and he has this inherent ability to know where the truth is.
He's so relaxed and so trusting...
and so confident in his ability to know when he has what he needs.
And it just forces this freedom in you as an actor.
He brought a grittiness to the movie, and a sort of sand-in-your-mouth feeling...
where it felt authentic and it didn't feel like something...
that was trying to ring emotion out of you.
He let this thing happen in front of us...
and he's letting the audience choose if they want to go along with this journey or not.
From the very first moment I met Taya and the rest of the family down in Texas...
I had a pretty good idea of how I thought everything should be.
Jason, who wrote the story, he had done a lot of research on it...
so I just took advantage of what everybody else knew and put it all in the mix.
He has the ability at this point in his career and his life and his talent...
to be so confident that he's willing to step aside...
and let Chris take over, which is what I experienced even as an actor.
We really did step aside and let the story be at the forefront.
It wasn't an overly directed film, it wasn't an overly scored film...
and the camera movements are not anything other than economical.
And I think it's because he really was aware of:
"Well, for this one, we're gonna focus on him."
And as an actor, I felt the same way.
The vain part of me could have wanted some big moment of a thing.
But, no, it's just not who Chris was.
After 12 shooting days in Morocco...
the cast and crew return to California to film the rest of American Sniper...
including the love story of Chris and Taya Kyle.
For me, the beating heart of the movie is Chris and Taya...
and that love story that I think totally transcends...
just being a Western or just being a military movie.
It's so much deeper than that.
Though Bradley Cooper admired Sienna Miller's work in other films...
the question of their on-camera chemistry had yet to be answered.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
We were just lucky that right away it clicked. It was easy.
Clint does this fantastic thing where he just doesn't cut.
Sometimes he doesn't even say "action," so you're very unaware of what's going on.
But I think he let the camera roll in that first scene...
for about seven minutes, at which point you just—
You're grasping. You're free-falling.
You're obviously military. What branch?
I just finished BUD/S.
- Are you kidding me? You're a SEAL? - Yes, ma'am.
I mean, it's pretty egotistical of you to think you can protect us all. Isn't it, Chris?
Well, our BUD/S office commander said that it's three—
Okay.
He said there's three things we gotta worry about: ego, booze and women.
Well...
it sounds like you're under attack.
The thing about Clint Eastwood, there's no rehearsal.
So you don't work on any scenes together until you actually shoot them...
which I like as long as you do your work.
But what that lends itself to is spontaneity and organic back-and-forth...
and, quite frankly, a lot of surprises.
Creatively, it became so much more than I had imagined it would be.
Once you accept what it is, you accept that you have two or three takes, if that...
once you become a part of that environment...
it's kind of the most creatively liberating experience I've ever had.
And getting to work with Bradley, who is probably the most amazing person...
I've ever worked with in terms of his openness and generosity...
and willingness to experiment and improvise.
And we both felt a tremendous responsibility to serve this couple.
It was amazing to have a partner like her.
And to play somebody who's got that much going on...
to be a woman in this environment, to be a woman who's trying to raise children...
who's trying to understand and be supportive of her husband but inside is imploding...
and having met her, I feel a huge responsibility to have done it justice.
Doing justice to Chris Kyle's story was on the forefront of everyone's mind...
when production wrapped after 44 shooting days.
I felt like we did tell a story in a human way...
and that there was a nugget of truth that I thought that people would relate to...
that I hadn't really seen before, that we got a little bit of him right.
NARRATOR'. In the months that followed, through the film's release and beyond...
the creative team that brought American Sniper to audiences...
held out hope that its themes would endure.
It's not a preachy movie. What's great is it's a character study.
But I think what will result in the movie is people will ask a lot of questions...
because there are serious issues that the movie brings up.
Regardless of whether you believe in a particular war or not...
you have to value the fact that these people are willing to go over there...
and make these sacrifices for us.
That to me is the most important aspect of this movie.
It's a complicated story, and people are gonna have very mixed emotions about it.
Some people will come out and see a film...
that's celebrating somebody who did, in many people's eyes, many heroic things.
Other people will be probably deeply affected by what they've seen...
and be shocked by some of it.
But this is the world we're living in. This happened.
I was just hoping that it really would be a movie seen for what it was...
at least intended to be, which was a movie about soldiers and their families.
That's it. Two days before it came out...
I went to San Antonio, Texas. We showed the movie and talked to the vets.
And one Marine stood up and was very emotional, saying that we got the story right.
And if you know anything about the military, for a Marine to cry in front of other Marines...
means something's happening.
Jacob, who was a Marine sniper, who was with me...
said to me, "The amount of guts it took for him to do that, you have no idea."
And I thought, "Yeah." And I thought, "Well, that's it. We got it right, then."