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Makers of 'American Sniper' press ahead to tell a tale of war and home

Written By kolimtiga on Jumat, 26 Desember 2014 | 16.38

Jason Hall had just turned in his first draft of a script about Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history. Bradley Cooper, who was producing the film and had agreed to star, was at a screening of "Silver Linings Playbook" for a group of veterans in Washington.

Kyle himself, still acclimating to life in Midlothian, Texas, after his fourth and final Iraq war tour, had just texted Hall an "LOL" in response to a raunchy joke.

It was Feb. 2, 2013, and their project together, "American Sniper," was lurching along in development at Warner Bros. Cooper and Hall had pitched it as a western with Kyle pitted against an equally gifted enemy sniper in the sandstorms of Iraq. But Kyle's story took a bizarre and devastating turn when he was killed that day at a gun range near his home, allegedly by a veteran he was trying to help.

"The gears just went off for a second," Cooper said, recalling the moment he learned about Kyle's death. "Everything just kind of stopped. Your brain takes in the information, but your body hasn't quite caught up. Chris and I, we're the same age, the same height, the same shoe size. You're just reminded anything's possible in life."

Less than two years later, "American Sniper" arrived in theaters Christmas Day. Instead of a straightforward tale about an elite warrior, it became, by necessity, a complex story about the heavy burdens a veteran carries home.

Clint Eastwood, perhaps Hollywood's greatest chronicler of male stoicism and its side effects, directs the film, which Hall adapted loosely from Kyle's bestselling autobiography written with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice. Hall's script deliberately borrows from Eastwood's "Unforgiven": The 1992 western's line, "It's a hell of a thing to kill a man" becomes, in a hunting scene in "American Sniper," "It's a hell of a thing to stop a beating heart."

The story toggles between the intensity of the battlefield, where Kyle earned the nickname "The Legend" for his 160 confirmed kills, and the bittersweetness of the home front, where his wife, Taya (Sienna Miller), emerges as the audience's proxy, both charmed by and worried for her husband as she feels him emotionally disengaging with each tour.

Even before Kyle's death, a contemporary war movie was not going to be an easy sell, particularly for Hall, whose two previous screenplays, the 2013 thriller "Paranoia" and 2009 sex comedy "Spread," cover very different thematic terrain. Hall had met Kyle through hedge fund manager Dan Loeb and established a relationship with the marksman on a hunting trip.

He wasn't having any luck with his pitch to studios until he reached out to Cooper, a friend who had established a box office track record as the Wolf Pack's chief charmer in the "Hangover" movies and was about to collect his first of two Oscar nominations for a vulnerable role as a bipolar man in "Silver Linings Playbook." That performance and another as permed FBI agent Richie DiMaso in "American Hustle" proved that he could handle neurotic, East Coast oddballs, but a drawling, Texas-born Navy SEAL was another kind of man entirely.

Still, Hall approached Cooper on a hunch, knowing he loved the 1978 Vietnam War movie "The Deer Hunter."

"The first question Bradley asked me about Chris was, 'Did [the war] mess him up?'" Hall said.

'Tremendous empathy'

Earlier this month, two days after he had opened on Broadway in a profoundly different but just as physically demanding role, "The Elephant Man," Cooper arrived at an interview in a pair of Merrell hiking boots of the type Kyle had worn in Iraq. He said that, since he'd started talking about the film to journalists, he had begun dreaming that he was Kyle, walking around his house in Midlothian.

"I always feel like I carry the character with me," Cooper said. "I just found tremendous empathy for him; I admired the sacrifice he made, his strength."

After Kyle's death gave his story a third act that was sadder than fiction, Cooper and Hall put the project on hold.

"Nobody wants to make an Iraq war movie," Hall said. "Nobody. ... But we didn't question so much whether the movie would go on as whether it should go on. For us to just continue like nothing had happened, it felt gross. It was heavy. It just didn't seem fair that someone could go through all that he did and come home and be murdered in his own backyard."

Cooper declined to define the politics of the film, which takes place between 2004 and 2008 but still feels current as ISIS has begun the process of undoing the democratic gains that U.S. troops painfully wrought.

"The whole reason we wanted to tell the story was to be as specific as possible about this guy and not make a comment about anything else," Cooper said. "That's for people to do who are watching the movie. I'm not saying this is a pro-war movie or an antiwar movie or a war movie, even. It's a character study about a soldier having to go from family life to battle and back."

With Taya's blessing and participation, Cooper and Hall resumed the project in the months after Kyle's death, but with a determination to get deeper under the layers of his character. Taya and Hall talked daily for hours, and she shared details of her husband's gentler side that had been omitted from the memoir, like how she knew Kyle was feeling better when he started ironing a crease in his jeans and wearing a flashy belt buckle.

"If you want to know who a man is, don't ask the man, ask his wife," Hall said. "Taya said, 'If you're still gonna do this, do it right. Cause this is how my kids are gonna know their father,' which sucker-punched me."

Steven Spielberg came aboard briefly to direct in the months after Kyle's death, before dropping out over budget concerns, but his interested stoked the studio's. Greg Silverman, Warner's president of creative and worldwide development, suggested Eastwood, who was making "Jersey Boys" for them, his latest in a nearly 40-year relationship with the studio.

"I had done war stories before, but this was more of a cross between his romantic life and his exploits in combat," Eastwood said in an email interview. "'American Sniper' is set in a war that is still fresh in the minds of the public and opinions are still divided. But regardless of how you feel about the war, we should appreciate the people who serve in the military and the families that support them. That's another thing that attracted me to the film."

Prepping to be Kyle

With Eastwood aboard, Cooper, who was about to earn his Oscar nomination for "American Hustle," began to prepare in earnest. He worked out while listening to Kyle's adrenalized playlist of Linkin Park and Staind songs, ate 6,000 calories a day to gain the 35 pounds of muscle that separated them and enlisted a dialect coach to perfect a particular West Texas accent. He watched videos of Kyle, adopted his habit of breathing loudly through his nose and learned a ridiculous amount of information about guns.

"At that time [before Kyle died] I felt I wasn't right for the role. Look at me, I'm from Philadelphia, I weigh 185 pounds. He was a huge [guy] from Texas. I thought maybe Chris Pratt. But in order to get WB to buy, I had to agree to star. I loved the story, though."

"I was fearful," Cooper added. "There's nothing worse than seeing an actor pretend he's from Texas, doing an accent. You're like, oh, shut the ... up. The hope is, two minutes into the movie you forget it's me."

This spring Eastwood shot the film in Rabat, Morocco, and in Southern California, where the Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita stood in for urban Iraq and the Imperial Valley town of El Centro provided the setting for a climactic battle scene.

Cooper, Eastwood and Hall discussed multiple endings before deciding against actually showing Kyle's killing for reasons of both storytelling and taste.

"I considered ending the film at the shooting range," Eastwood said. "But that would have shifted the focus to his death and made it a different movie. We were telling the story of Chris Kyle's life and wanted to keep the focus there."

Instead, the movie ends with moving real-life footage from Kyle's funeral, some of which Hall recorded on his iPhone, as thousands of Texans waved at the procession from roadsides and overpasses.

Most critics agree that "American Sniper's" strengths lie in the naturalness of Cooper's performance and the immediacy of the battle scenes, but they tend to disagree on its political stripes. The Times' Kenneth Turan praised the film for showing that "heroism and being on the right side do not solve all problems for men in combat." LA Weekly's Amy Nicholson dismissed the movie as "unexamined jingoism." And the Hollywood Reporter's Tom McCarthy said, "The politics of the war are completely off the table here."

Hall said the movie's politics are deliberately as impenetrable as a dust storm.

"We went into Afghanistan and I got it," Hall said. "We went into Iraq and I was, like, I don't totally get it. But as soon as we had boots on the ground, I supported those guys. There are humans fighting this war, and the effect on them is singular and personal."

Cooper said he will be screening the film for veterans groups and hopes that, as with audiences who saw themselves in his bipolar character in "Silver Linings Playbook," soldiers take some solace in his portrayal of Kyle.

"I just want to show the movie to vets and hope they don't feel so alone," Cooper said. "Maybe people will relate to and empathize with Chris' story and maybe people like me and you, the next time we see a soldier in an airport we'll think for a minute about where they're coming from and what they've been through and have more understanding."

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Shawn Levy's 'Museum' debut had special effect on director

Written By kolimtiga on Kamis, 25 Desember 2014 | 16.38

The first time 20th Century Fox offered Shawn Levy the job of directing "Night at the Museum," he passed. And the second time. And the third. And the fourth. And the fifth.

Levy had directed the 2003 family comedy "Cheaper by the Dozen" for Fox, and that had proved successful. But for a director who had never done a single visual effect, the idea of taking the reins of a big-budget, effects-driven comedy — the story of an American Museum of Natural History security guard (Ben Stiller) who discovers that the exhibits magically come to life after dark — was, frankly, terrifying.

"I rejected it a half-dozen times because I was straight-up scared," Levy, 46, remembered on a recent morning in his office on the Fox lot. "Finally, I said, 'If I don't make some bold gestures, I'll never know what I can do.'"

Originally conceived as a one-off, 2006's "Night at the Museum" went on to gross nearly $575 million worldwide, spawning a trilogy that has now come to a conclusion with "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb." The third film in the franchise — which brings the story to the British Museum in London — opened this past weekend to $17.3 million, less than the first two films but still strong enough to pull ahead of Sony Pictures' competing family film, a remake of the musical "Annie."

After years of development, the third "Night" film coalesced around the idea of saying goodbye. In "Secret of the Tomb," Stiller's character is struggling to accept that his college-age son is leaving the nest, even as the museum exhibits are facing their own possible demise. "The idea of letting go became the dominant theme," Levy said.

With the death in July of Robin Williams, who played Theodore Roosevelt throughout the three films, that theme, Levy said, "has become much more poignant."

"This movie was already about a farewell, and I genuinely didn't know how it would play in the aftermath of Robin's passing," Levy said. "I put it in front of some audiences two months after Robin's death, and I was relieved and moved at the extent to which they gave me the feedback that, while it was sad, it was a respectful, loving kind of sad."

For Levy, "Secret of the Tomb" caps a phenomenally busy year that also saw him direct September's dramedy "This Is Where I Leave You" — an adaptation of Jonathan Tropper's bestselling novel about a dysfunctional family that comes together after the father's death to sit shiva, the Jewish ritual of mourning — and produce October's Disney comedy "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."

"I could work a lot of years and not have a more frantic pace than this year," said Levy, who also has four daughters with his wife, Serena.

Despite his punishing schedule, Levy — who also has numerous projects in development, both large and small — radiates a restless, boyish, almost gee-whiz enthusiasm for filmmaking that's somewhat surprising to see in a director carrying the burden of a billion-dollar global franchise on his shoulders. Actor Owen Wilson, who has appeared in all three "Night at the Museum" films, marvels at Levy's stamina: "Shawn has really held on to his kid energy. You could imagine him at 80 and he'd still be youthful."

From early in life, Levy, who grew up in Montreal, Canada, displayed an unusual level of ambition and drive. "When I was 10 years old, I was taking a theater class, and I asked the teacher, 'What's the best university for theater?' " he recalled. "She said, 'Yale.' "

After graduating from Yale — where he cut his teeth directing a young Paul Giamatti in a production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" — Levy attended USC film school while supporting himself as an actor with parts on TV series such as "Beverly Hills 90210" and "21 Jump Street." (Of one of his earliest roles, in the 1987 schlockfest "Zombie Nightmare," the less said, the better. "I play a bad boy with Duran Duran-style long hair who throws a fistful of spaghetti in his mom's face," Levy said.)

Making his studio directing debut with 2002's "Big Fat Liar," Levy quickly found his groove in the family-comedy genre. Ever since, in films like "Real Steel," "Date Night" and "This Is Where I Leave You," he has never strayed far from the often-fractious relationships between flesh and blood.

"Without question, I have some dysfunctional family dynamics in my past: an early divorce of my parents when I was 3, remarriages, step-siblings, half siblings," he said. "All of that is at play in the movies."

Still, Levy's films have tended to be fairly light, mainstream-friendly affairs, which may partly explain why he's never been a critics' darling. Not that he seems particularly troubled by that. "If you live by metrics of applause elsewhere, that's not a road to inner happiness," he said. "I'm not a dark guy, so unsurprisingly I'm never going to be drawn to dark material."

Following the success of 2009's "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," Levy wasn't certain he wanted to return to the franchise. "As long as it was simply about a new museum, Ben and I weren't compelled to make it," he said. "We had drafts that went to the Louvre, drafts that went to Cairo. It was when we came up with this notion of 'the end' that it really had a reason to be."

Levy was in the editing room cutting the film together when he got a call from his agent that Williams — who had worked on "Secret of the Tomb" for three months, far more than on either of the previous films — had committed suicide.

"I had a very weird reaction," he said. "I got very emotional but also angry in disbelief. My agent told me that it would be less than half an hour before the news became public, so I called Ben. It was an intense, horrible day."

On the set, Levy hadn't seen signs of the profound depression that drove Williams to take his life. "I saw a guy who certainly was weary because he had just shot a full season of a TV show," Levy said. "But he was Robin. He was prepared. He said to me repeatedly, 'Let's make this the best of the three.'"

Indeed, throughout the trilogy, Williams had always lifted the spirits of those around him, said costar Ricky Gervais: "I remember doing the junket for the second movie with Robin. Everyone knows junkets are soul-destroying, but honestly, with Robin it was a joy. You'd just watch him do his thing."

For Levy, "Secret of the Tomb" represents saying goodbye to Williams and to the franchise that launched him into the studio-tentpole big leagues. But in another way, it opens him up to pursue new avenues, some of which — like "This Is Where I Leave You" — are outside of his usual wheelhouse. Among other things, he is currently developing "Forty Thieves," a new take on the Ali Baba folk tale, and a comedy about a grown-up Tinker Bell to star Melissa McCarthy.

"Most directors have their thing, and they do their thing," Levy said. "I didn't need to go do a $19-million, R-rated shiva movie like 'This Is Where I Leave You,' but I needed to for me. It was an opportunity to use different muscles. And now I know I love that."

josh.rottenberg@latimes.com

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Lindbergh beacon atop L.A. City Hall shows Santa the way

The Lindbergh beacon, the revolving light atop City Hall that was turned on for the first time by President Calvin Coolidge in 1928, was lighted again Wednesday night in time for Christmas.

"I want to make sure Santa will get to the children of Los Angeles tonight and that everyone knows L.A. is a place that honors all traditions and all faiths," Mayor Eric Garcetti said.

The beacon will remain on through Jan. 5 to mark the 12 days of Christmas "and to signify that L.A. is a beacon of tolerance of the world's peoples, cultures and faiths," Garcetti wrote on his Facebook page.

After Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in 1927, receiving a bushel of gifts, the aviator suggested to civic leaders in Los Angeles that they contribute to the advancement of aviation rather than give him more presents.

The city decided to place the 1,000-watt light on the new City Hall to help pilots identify Los Angeles and also mark the 27-story building as a potential hazard to them.

When pilots complained that the light was too bright -- it could be seen in Pomona and Santa Monica --the federal Department of Commerce ruled its color must be changed to red.

The light sat out most of World War II and was turned off in 1947. It sat for a time in the basement of City Hall and then at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

When a refurbishment of City Hall was completed in 2001, the Lindbergh beacon was put back on top, to shine on special occasions, such as the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Twitter: @gottliebjeff

jeff.gottlieb@latimes.com

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The trip 'Into the Woods' is spooky, thoughtful, delightful

"Into the Woods," the deliciously arch, deceptively deep, fractured fairy tale with its soaring Sondheim showstoppers, has made it to the big screen virtually untouched by Hollywood's big, tall, terrible giants, whose meddling can so often make a mess of things.

As you'd expect, the woods have been partially repopulated by movie stars — Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and Johnny Depp among them — who, thankfully, can actually sing.

Director Rob Marshall, who did a pretty swell job of bringing the "Pop! Six! Squish! Uh Uh!" of "Chicago" to film, wraps all of his love for Broadway musicals around his cast, pulling out performances that have already drawn awards nominations for Streep and Blunt.

The other major roles are filled by actors who have spent their share of time doing musical theater, in addition to their film and TV work. Among them are Tony winners Christine Baranski and James Corden, Tony-nominated Billy Magnussen and the young stage veterans Lilla Crawford, who starred as "Annie" on Broadway, and Daniel Huttlestone, whose credits include "Oliver!" and "Les Misérables," both in London.

I suspect James Lapine eased the transition from stage to screen. He won a Tony for the droll wit of the musical's book in the first place and took on screenplay duties for the film, ensuring that the way his words intertwined so tightly with Stephen Sondheim's Tony-winning music and lyrics on stage would remain intact.

While Marshall has taken care to not break the musical's magical spell, he hasn't materially changed it either. So if you are expecting an experience that feels as if it could happen only in the movies, the director's way through the "Woods" won't take you there.

The special effects are like showy accessories, fun but not fundamental, though the witch's comings and goings are a smoky, spooky blast. The overall look of the film is lush and storybook-like, with a lovely painterly touch and soft rich hues, heavy on the blues, that matches its sometimes-introspective mood.

Shooting on location does give the story visual depth. The trees, leaves and streams are beautifully real, as is the quaint village at the edge of the woods. England's countryside, villages and castles provide much of the raw material, all well used by director of photography Dion Beebe and production designer Dennis Gassner. John DeLuca proves facile in staging the musical numbers around all those rocks and trees; David Krane is respectful in adapting the score. Peter Swords King's work on makeup and tresses is top notch, with a special shout out to J. Roy Helland, who handled the witch's.

But what makes "Into the Woods" so entertaining is the cleverness of the tale itself and the way specific characters match the talents of its storytellers. A strong ensemble was assembled by those involved in casting — Francine Maisler, Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield.

The foundation of the story begs, borrows and steals liberally from many favorite fairy tales: Cinderella (Kendrick) with her lost slipper, Prince Charming (Pine) searching to find her, the wicked stepmother (Baranski) and her daughters (Lucy Punch and Tammy Blanchard) in the way. Kendrick, Pine and Baranski all pitch-perfect, including their comic timing.

Then there's Red Riding Hood (Crawford) and her fated trip into the woods to visit an ailing Granny (Annette Crosbie) with the hungry Wolf (Depp) lurking. Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy), locked in her tower, throws down that long golden braid to her prince (Magnussen), and others who do not wish her as well. Young Jack (Huttlestone) still trades in his cow for magic beans, enraging his mother (Tracey Ullman) and enraging a giant (Frances De La Tour) more.

All important to stitch the tales together is the Baker (Corden) and his barren wife (Blunt), whose efforts to break the witch's curse so they may have a child require a great many trips into the woods to find, as the witch requires, "a cow as white as milk [Jack's], a cape as red as blood [Red's], hair as yellow as corn [Rapunzel's] and a slipper as pure as gold [Cinderella's]."

Not surprisingly, the witch is key. In Streep's good hands she crackles with rage, resentment and revenge, but she also has a wicked sense of humor and never, ever forgets this is a fable.

Though all the performances are, like the prince, charming, Blunt as the Baker's wife is particularly good as a young wife trying to sort out her role in this life. The actress effortlessly moves through so many moods, it's as if her charisma is carried on the wind.

The film's youngsters are both great. Crawford makes a mischievous Red Riding Hood's munching and musing such fun. Huttlestone as the not-too-bright Jack delivers "Giants in the Sky" so well that of all the songs in the film, it's the one that keeps playing in my head.

In starting with fairy tales, Lapine and Sondheim were already dealing with layered stories. But in using the woods as the central intersection, there are any number of other ideas in play, other morals. Some serious, like those about parenthood — will the Baker be a fit father? Or whether the prince Cinderella wished for is really who she wants.

If anything, some of the darker themes are heightened. Cutting toes to make a slipper fit, the blood dripping; blinding both the bad and the good in revenge, a banishment, a death — may be too much for some little ones.

But mostly, it is delightful to stroll "Into the Woods" and get lost in this musical, magical world.

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Lakers come to play while Kobe's away, stun Warriors without Bryant

Written By kolimtiga on Rabu, 24 Desember 2014 | 16.38

For the first time this season, the crowd's reaction to the Lakers' player introductions at Staples Center did not reach its normal feverish climax when Kobe Bryant steps on the court.

Bryant was not in the house Tuesday night.

But even as a fatigued Bryant was rested, the sold-out crowd of 18,997 still had reason to roar as Bryant's teammates defeated the high-flying Golden State Warriors, 115-105.

The Lakers led by 15 points at halftime, by 22 points at the end of the third quarter and simply outplayed league-leading Golden State through most of the game.

A three-point basket by the Warriors' Justin Holiday cut the Lakers' lead to eight points with 55 seconds left, but the Lakers' Jeremy Lin promptly answered with a three-pointer of his own to seal the win.

Carlos Boozer, who lost his starting job several games ago as the Lakers' losses piled up, led his club Tuesday night with 18 points and nine rebounds, both team-highs on a night the Lakers' reserves combined for 54 points, 19 rebounds and 12 assists. Ronnie Price, with 17 points, was the highest-scoring starter.

"That's exactly what we needed," Lakers Coach Byron Scott said. "It probably was our best game so far this year.

"We're still going to lean on [Bryant] but we don't have to as heavy as we are, that's kind of the message. You've got to let these [other] guys either succeed or fail."

The Lakers' record improved to 9-19 while the Warriors' fell to 23-4, still the best in the NBA.

With Bryant tired and struggling, and the Lakers playing upcoming games against the Bulls in Chicago on Christmas and then the Mavericks in Dallas the next day, Scott decided to rest Bryant.

Bryant is averaging a team-high 24.6 points a game but shooting a career-low 37.2% from the field.

"You can't replace a guy like Kobe, obviously, but I thought collectively we did a great job of helping each other out on both sides of the ball," Boozer said. "We just played with such energy, hopefully we can take that on the road up to Chicago for Christmas, and on to Dallas, too."

Scott said before the game that the goal was "just really trying to preserve him as much as possible so he can play at a high level."

"I didn't get much of a fuss" from Bryant, Scott said. "He had told me last night, anyway, 'Coach, whatever you want to do, just let me know.' So he's on board with it."

Scott was asked if Bryant also might sit out one of the two upcoming road games. "We haven't gotten to that point yet," Scott said. "We're just taking this game by game, day by day."

Reserve guard Wayne Ellington made his first start of the season in place of Bryant, and he scored 12 points, including two three-point baskets.

The victory snapped a three-game Lakers losing streak and their four-game losing streak against Golden State — including two losses earlier this season — which was the Lakers' longest winless streak against the Warriors in 20 years.

The Lakers shot 51.7% from the field while Golden State shot 46.4%.

The Lakers also kept in check the Warriors' backcourt stars, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who led Golden State with 22 points and 18 points, respectively.

"It was a great team effort," Price said. "We all feel like we haven't been playing up to our standards. We were getting stops. That was key. We weren't just exchanging baskets."

Now the Lakers, Bryant included, head to Chicago for Thursday's game against the Bulls.

Said Scott: "I told Kobe to meet us at the plane tomorrow morning."

Follow Jim Peltz on Twitter @PeltzLATimes