Steven Spielberg will no longer direct American Sniper, based on the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.
Deadline is reporting exclusively that Spielberg is taking American Sniper out of the picture, no pun intended. Bradley Cooper is slated to play Kyle.
DreamWorks and Warner Bros. partnered up when Spielberg said he was interested in directing the autobiography of the “most lethal sniper” in US military history as the author titles his book.
Spielberg and DreamWorks are pulling out of the project completely which is an advantage for Warner Bros, since they can go about finding a new director for the project.
Many times when a director pulls out of a movie the studio is left with the extra expense. According to the report, Spielberg couldn’t reconcile his vision for the film with the budget he had to work with.
This is not the first time Steven Spielberg gets close to a project, commits, and then steps aside. Now, It appears that Spielberg is trying to find his next Lincoln, which he spent 11 years developing.
He, most notably stepped away from Harvey which was to star Tom Hanks, who has worked with Spielberg in several occasions, because the role originated with James Stewart, an actor who he is often compared to.
In the case of American Sniper however, that is not the case and Bradley Cooper was not only starring as Kyle, but he was also producing the film along with Andrew Lazar and Peter Morgan.
Cooper is one of the hottest actors in Hollywood at the moment and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Silver Linings Playbook in which he starred with Jennifer Lawrence.
Next he is slated to appear in David O. Russell’s American Hustle.
What do you think of Steven Spielberg stepping down from American Sniper?
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