Yet another Twitter controversy is erupting over the Clint Eastwood directed flick, American Sniper. In addition to accusations of being racist, anti-Islamic, and even some pointing fingers at the film's critics for being unpatriotic, the twitterverse is now nitpicking the fact that a prop baby was used for one scene between Bradley Cooper and his on-screen wife, Sienna Miller, for just a little over a minute.
Unfortunately, even though Cooper's performance in the film earned him an Academy Award nomination, it was not enough to convince movie-goers that the on-screen newborn he was holding was a real, flesh and blood baby.
In an age where CGI effects are convincing enough to make Hobbits walk alongside Elves, Giant gorillas scale buildings, or multi-raced Jedi's fight with Sith, apparently, Clint Eastwood's decision to use a terribly unconvincing and unrealistic prop baby was an unforgivable modern movie sin.
Many took to twitter with their reactions to the baby's stiff performance.
fake baby, fake book, fake movie, fake patriotism, fake fake fake. #fake #fakebaby https://t.co/ipOqomocDd
— Zachary Sire (@ZacharySire) Jan. 22, 2015
I'm not sure why people are so upset with the #AmericanSniper baby. Looks authentic to me. #FakeBaby pic.twitter.com/Se2CThp0Fy — Joe 'Monk' Pardavila (@joepardavila) Jan. 20, 2015
Saw "American Sniper" while ago, didn't mention because I didn't want to affect others experience of the movie but..#FakeBaby ...why why why — Alicia Lara (@AliciaLaraLA) Jan. 20, 2015
Ok, #American Sniper was definitely worth seeing...but we were so thrown off by the #fakebaby scene. How much did that save in the budget? — Daven Carlson (@CarlsonDaven) Jan. 20, 2015
the #fakebaby hype is real... it was bad. but the movie soooooo good. #incredible — Stefanie Morris (@shawn_stefanie) Jan. 19, 2015
If having to pretend that doll was a real baby doesn't get Bradley Cooper the Oscar, I don't know what will #fakebaby @AmericanSniper — KeriM (@KeriMeyers) Jan. 16, 2015
Even American Sniper's screenwriter, Jason Hall, got in on the #FakeBaby hashtag trend with his now deleted tweet:
"[H]ate to ruin the fun but real baby #1 showed up with a fever. Real baby #2 was no show. (Clint voice) Gimme the doll, kid."
