Bradley Cooper appeared before the Oscar Nominees Luncheon held at Beverly Hills on Monday and talked about how playing the role of Chris Kyle in "American Sniper" changed his life.
For the actor, what surprised him about the film was not its box office success, but the volume of attention it received, Reuters reported.
Shortly after "American Sniper" debuted in cinemas, it sparked a political debate regarding the role of United States in the Iraq war. Many criticizers slammed the film for glorifying war and depicting Muslims in a negative way. Others said the film generalized the Iraq war experience for all American soldiers.
As for those who supported the film, they applauded how lead actor Cooper and director Clint Eastwood were able to convey Kyle's patriotism. It also gave viewers a glimpse of the hardships Kyle went through as he was trying to adjust from his military mindset to living a normal life with his family.
"You never think about whether you're going to wind up here," Cooper said to the attendees of the event. "So to have the audacity to think that it would cause any sort of effect would be pretty presumptuous."
Cooper then recalled that the focus of the film changed halfway through its production phase due to the death of Kyle in 2013. He then noted that working on the set of "American Sniper" and getting to know Kyle's family and friends made an impact that he hasn't fully absorbed yet, according to the Huffington Post.
"I just really loved this story," he said. "And it's changed over the years. He was murdered a year and a half into our development and it changed everything. It became a different movie. It became more about the plight of the soldiers and his family."
"I don't think I'll realize it fully until maybe later in life," Cooper added. "It was life changing. Completely."
"American Sniper" was released worldwide in Jan. 16, 2015. Just a few weeks after its premiere, it became the highest grossing war film of all time after reaching more than $3 million in worldwide box office sales.
