If you have watched a Clint Eastwood-directed film, then you might be impressed with his work on American Sniper. He likes to keep things moving on the set. Eastwood is not a director who will allow his actors to have multiple takes. Not Clint. His fast pace is advantageous as it keeps everyone on their feet.
But the stubbornness Eastwood can show at times is problematic. Case in point is Eastwood’s work on American Sniper, the movie version of U.S. Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle’s life. The movie was a box office success with a $547.4 million count, FandomWire wrote.
Sure, the movie was incredibly successful. Yet American Sniper lost its chance to be considered for an Academy Award victory. Why? It’s because of Eastwood and his fast-paced work that led him to make a decision.
In the movie, there is a scene involving Bradley Cooper, who played Kyle, and his wife, played by Sienna Miller.
‘American Sniper’ Shows Off Interesting Baby
They are parents of a young baby, and the scene could have been more emotional. But the baby caused problems. Yes, the prop baby was used. Eastwood made the call to use a prop baby. It looks as fake as you could believe.
American Sniper film screenwriter Jason Hall headed over to X (formerly known as Twitter) to talk about the Clint Eastwood movie. He laid out the situation by writing, “Hate to ruin the fun but real baby #1 showed up with a fever. Real Baby #2 was a no-show. (Clint voice) Gimme the doll, kid.” This tweet reportedly has since been deleted from his account.
So, they were supposed to use real babies in this scene. Eastwood didn’t want to wait around and move the scene filming back. No way. In this very emotional scene, Eastwood, stubborn in his directorial ways, chose the prop baby.
What did the critics think about this? Drew McWeeny for Hitfix wrote, “There’s something wholly artificial about it, and it drew my eye immediately. As a result, the entire rest of the scene, that’s all I can look at. It’s so obvious, and neither one of them looks like they are comfortable holding it.”
Clint Eastwood’s Fast Process Scrutinized
Eastwood has drawn the scorn of actors like Matt Damon for his one-take process. It’s a noble thing for Eastwood to want to keep things on the movie set moving. At what price, though? Going with a prop baby in a deep emotional scene looks silly.
American Sniper drew a lot of people to movie theaters. Yet shirking the ability to use a real baby and use a prop baby? It’s so obvious that it’s a fake baby. Maybe Eastwood will think twice about pulling this type of stunt in the future.
Still, his track record cannot be denied. Eastwood has won Academy Awards for his movies before. It’s not like he hasn’t tasted the sweet nectar of success. Eastwood has and his work has been respected by many. This is just a case where taking a shortcut taints a really good movie.