Why Is The Baby In ‘American Sniper’ Fake?

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Why Is The Baby In ‘American Sniper’ Fake?

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The film is a hit, but the newborn in one key scene is not.

American Sniper, Clint Eastwood’s drama about the most lethal sharpshooter in U.S. history, made a killing at the box office on its opening weekend.

But a bigger story was gestating: the very obviously fake baby held by Bradley Cooper, the Oscar-nominated lead in the film, in one scene with his wife (Sienna Miller).

“Basically, film professionals know that Eastwood likes to move fast on movie sets and recognize that he took the easy and less expensive route of using a fake baby — not even animatronic — that Cooper had to move himself to make it look lifelike!” says longtime film columnist Anne Thompson, the author of The $11 Billion Year: From Sundance to the Oscars, an Inside Look at the Changing Hollywood System.

Best Actor for American Sniper: Prop Baby. pic.twitter.com/Qo351jyXpR

— Chris Stuckmann (@Chris_Stuckmann) January 18, 2015

There’s an outcry that the scene was stilted and awkward, with Cooper clearly uncomfortable holding the infant.

‘American Sniper’ holiday total: $105.3 million

Jake Gyllenhaal needs to dress up as his Nightcrawler character and show up to the Oscars with te fake baby from American Sniper.

— Tony Zhou (@tonyszhou) January 15, 2015

Although you could argue, that’s the point.

He’s playing a man who’s a legend in battle but can’t adjust to life at home when he goes back to visit his wife and kids. So viewers pointing out that he seems very ill-at-ease holding the baby would be on target.
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Also, it’s one quick moment, which is why “it didn’t make any impression” on USC professor Mitchell Block, who produced the Oscar-nominated documentary short Poster Girl, about a former cheerleader who is dealing with PTSD after serving in Iraq.

It’s strange, to say the least, that the breakout scene from a serious, intense movie about the toll of war on a Navy SEAL involves a pink-clad doll. Warner Bros., the studio that released the film, had no comment.

So will this impact how the film fares during the all-important awards season? Eastwood, for example, is up for a Directors Guild of America prize, and the film has a nom from the Producers Guild.

“It begs the question of how fast and loose Eastwood shoots his movies. It could hurt with the craft branches (but) not do much (with) the mainstream producers, execs, publicists,” says Thompson. “If they’re voting for editing or writing or acting or sound it has no impact.”

During an interview with Miller and Cooper before the film opened, they said their focus had been on getting Chris and Taya Kyle’s relationship right, down to the smallest nuance. And Cooper’s ultimate goal was simple: “I hope that vets can empathize with that story and relate to the story. And people who don’t know anything about what vets go through have a new idea. That would be amazing.”

Given that the film is up for best picture, it’s doubtful that they’re sweating the baby controversy.

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