American Sniper Under Fire For ‘Plastic Babies’

Clint Eastwood’s stirring biopic ‘American Sniper’ may have just landed six Oscar nominations and the biggest January box office opening ever, but it hasn’t prevented it from coming under fire from critics who have lambasted its use of ‘plastic babies’.

A key scene in the Best Picture-nominated film sees Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller – who play real-life couple Chris and Tara Kyle - passing a baby between them that its detractors say is clearly fake.

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Although there are no clips of the particularly scene online, this gif from a featurette shows Cooper cradling a plastic-looking baby and you can see the actor moving the baby’s arm with his thumb to make it appear more lifelike.

The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin says: “they’re conspicuously wobbling rather than moving, which makes the crying sound effects seem a bit eerily detached.”

The Sunday Times’ Camilla Long adds, “I have never seen so many terrible fake babies in one film.”

As for why the film decided to use a fake baby rather than a real one, it’s hard to say, but the Telegraph speculates it could have been a cost-cutting measure employed by Eastwood who took over the project from Steven Spielberg at the eleventh hour.

Hitfix’s Drew McWeeny pointed out the film’s glaring ‘creepy robot baby’ issue back in December saying, “It’s so obvious, and neither one of them looks like they are comfortable holding it. The weight’s all wrong, and it shows from the way they have to try to liven it up with their own body language. Cooper in particular looks like he’s just plain never held a baby.”

Have you seen ‘American Sniper’? What did you think of the fake babies? Let us know below.

‘American Sniper’ is in cinemas now.

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Image credits: Warner Bros.