When Scott Waugh and Mike McCoy's war-set thriller Act of Valor came out in 2012, it wasn't sold on big names or big budget action sequences, but instead the fact that it employed active Navy SEALs to play the lead roles. The film was ultimately dismissed by critics, but it's hard to argue that the strategy didn't work considering the $12 million project wound up pulling in over $80 million worldwide. It's possible that this success ended up having some kind of influence on Clint Eastwood, because The Wrap is now reporting that the veteran filmmaker has enlisted a few to star in his upcoming project American Sniper.
Unlike Act of Valor, however, Eastwood's film will at least have some star-power to it. Bradley Cooper became attached to both star in and produce the movie all the way back in 2012. The Academy Award-nominee is set to be joined in the film by Sienna Miller, Battle: Los Angeles' Cory Hardrict, and the newly announced Jake McDorman, who will be playing a friend of Cooper's character in the film named Ryan Job who is nicknamed "Biggles."
Based on a true story, the film will see Cooper star as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, a veteran who holds the record for most sniper kills by an American. While multiple real SEALs are expected to be featured in the film, one of them will be Kevin ‘Dauber” Lacz, a personal friend of Kyle's. The film is based on Kyle's autobiography and the adaptation is being scripted by Jason Hall. Production is being planned to start next month and shooting will be taking place in Morocco.
Most of McDorman's career thus far has been spent on the small screen, with regular roles on shows like Quintuplets, Greek and Are You There, Chelsea?, but he has picked up some big screen credits on films such as Len Wiseman's Live Free Or Die Hard. Most recently he has been playing a character named Mike Pratt on the Showtime series Shameless. You can check him out in action in the clips below:
American Sniper does not yet have a release date, but knowing how fast Eastwood likes to work it's entirely possible that the film will be out in theaters at the end of this year. Stay tuned for more updates!
