Looks like Bradley Cooper isn’t wasting much time getting his first project for his brand new production company going. THR reports that the actor is currently “setting up” a big screen adaptation of American Sniper through his company. Cooper will produce the film through his new production shingle at Warner Bros., 22nd & Indiana, which he just set up this past March. Cooper will also “likely” star in the film to boot.
The film will center on the real life story of Chris Kyle, a U.S. Navy SEAL who is the owner of one hell of a distinction – he’s recorded more career sniper kills in United States military history than anyone else. In fact, Kyle smashed the previous record (109) with his official count, which is 160 confirmed kills out of 255 claimed kills. His work earned him the succinct nickname of “The Devil” by Iraqi insurgents, who even went so far as to place a bounty on his head. Kyle’s life is also cinematically colorful, with his path to the SEALs marked by a childhood of hunting, a brief period of rodeo-riding, and a fittingly legendary tale of how he ended up signing up for the Navy (he was trying to sign up for the Marines, but the Marine recruiter was out to lunch). There’s also a weird little story about Kyle claiming to have knocked out, of all people, Jesse Ventura.
Jason Dean Hall (Paranoia, Spread) is set to adapt the script, which comes from Kyle’s biography, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” which he wrote with Scott McEwan and Jim DeFelice.
ComingSoon also points us in the direction of the book’s official synopsis:
He is the deadliest American sniper ever, called “The Devil” by the enemies he hunted and “The Legend” by his Navy SEAL brothers. From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States Military history. The Pentagon has officially confirmed more then 150 of Kyle’s kills (the previous American record was 109), but it has declined to verify the astonishing total number for this book. Iraqi insurgents feared Kyle so much they named him Al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle earned a legendary status among his fellow SEALS, Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, who he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle’s masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences of all time.
A native Texan who learned to shoot on childhood hunting trips with his father, Kyle was a champion saddle-bronc rider prior to joining the Navy. After 9/11, he was thrust into the front lines of the War of Terror, and soon found his calling as a world-class sniper who performed best under fire. In Fallujah, where he recorded a personal-record 2,100-yard kill shot, Kyle braved heavy fire to rescue a group of Marines trapped on the street; in Ramadi, he stared down insurgents with his pistol in close combat. Kyle talks honestly about the pain of war-of twice being shot and experiencing the tragic deaths of two close friends.
THR also notes that book includes emotional “passages from Kyle’s wife, who slowly watches as her husband’s affection turns from her to the SEALs and war.” You can read some of the first pages of the book, over at Amazon.