Chris Kyle's life pretty much was a movie. But ultimately a tragic one.
Steven Spielberg's decision to make American Sniper his next directing project comes as something of a surprise. The filmmaker has rarely drawn on contemporary subject matter, preferring instead to dip back into history (Lincoln, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, etc.) for his human-scaled dramas. Although he's also signing on as a producer, Spielberg is coming to American Sniper — a biopic about real-life super soldier Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in American military history — as something of (pardon the pun) a hired gun; Bradley Cooper has already spent a year developing the project as a starring vehicle through his production company after acquiring the rights to Kyle's book of the same name.
Kyle's life was incredibly complex, cinematic — and ultimately tragic. It's no surprise that Spielberg would want to tell his story.
Via: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
Kyle killed so many people during his career as a Navy SEAL — 160 — that Iraqi insurgents nicknamed him the Devil of Ramadi.
And that's only his confirmed kills. Some reports put his tally almost twice as high. He told Time magazine last year that he does not regret any of them.
Via: Handout / Reuters
Kyle did four tours in Iraq, earning the Silver Star twice, and the Bronze Star five times.
As a D Magazine profile put it, "He survived six IED attacks, three gunshot wounds, two helicopter crashes, and more surgeries than he could remember."
Via: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Paul Moseley / AP
In 2010, he reportedly killed two armed assailants at a gas station.
He allegedly did it with his back to them, firing from under his armpit. You read that right.
