American Sniper is very successful visually but the scene with the fake baby is really an incomprehensible anomaly. Explanations.
With six Oscar nominations in 2015 (including an award for best sound editing), nearly $550 million collected at the worldwide box office (for a budget of $59 million) and rather enthusiastic reviews (with an average of 73/ 100 on Metacritic) praising its qualities as a biopic, American Sniper is Clint Eastwood's last great success, on all levels.
Of course, some see American Sniper like a big reactionary sausage when others find that the film manages to avoid this pitfall thanks to Eastwood's touch (let Mathieu and Antoine fight). One thing is certain, ten years after its release, a question still arises and is unanimous: why does Bradley Cooper, who plays former Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle at the center of the story, carry Is there a fake baby during one of the film's major scenes? Elements of response.
fake baby, instructions for use
Unquestionably, American Sniper looks good visually, especially during the war scenes in Iraq, but one scene stands out: the one where Bradley Cooper carries a fake baby in his arms. As a reminder, in this scene, Chris Kyle and Taya Kyle (played by Sienna Miller) argue about how the war is changing Chris. She holds their young daughter McKenna, saying that he is not there enough for them and that they need him, to which he responds, in short, that the family will wait because the war cannot to wait for.
A scene supposed to be very strong and moving in the evolution of the couple's relationship… which was widely mocked because of the baby. Because yes, even if the camera tries every stratagem not to show it, it is impossible not to notice that it is a fake baby, a life-size doll. But then how could Eastwood accept this? How did this life-size doll end up in the arms of Cooper and Miller instead of a real infant? Screenwriter Jason Hall explained this filming hiccup in 2015 on Twitter:
“I hate to spoil the fun [des internautes se moquant de la scène, ndlr] but real baby #1 had a fever that day. The real baby #2 wasn't there [au moment de la scène, ndlr]. [Alors Clint a dit] : “Hand me the doll, kid.” »
If Jason Hall had quickly deleted his tweet at the time, fortunately spotted by Vulturehere is the simple explanation of this almost-surreal scene. There were indeed two babies available for the scene in theory, but unfortunately for the production, he could not shoot the sequence. Clint Eastwood then decided to move forward despite everything by choosing to replace a real baby with a plastic doll.
Visually, it's a little nightmare since we can sense that Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller are uncomfortable during the sequence and don't really know how to carry it, the child being completely amorphous (apart from a small animated hand probably added in post-production). The child's stoicity is all the more ridiculous since he is supposed to cry during the sequence as suggested by the cries (also added in post-production).
So, even after more than fifty years of experience, we can apparently make completely crazy choices. It's hard to know where we would rank this plastic baby in our ranking of the worst fake babies in cinema history, but it would probably be quite close to the famous CGI infant from the last Twilight (proof that nothing beats a real baby). While waiting for us to settle down, it is always possible to see Juror No. 2 at the cinema (and there's a real baby in it this time, promise).
