Bradley Cooper Goes to War in New ‘American Sniper’ Trailer

Clint Eastwood directed Cooper in the biopic based on the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle

Warner Bros. released a new trailer for Clint Eastwood‘s “American Sniper” on Thursday. The film is based on the memoir of the same name by U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, known as the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history.

Bradley Cooper plays Kyle, who served four tours of duty in the Iraq War. The trailer begins with an offscreen character asking Kyle what he thinks of the fact that he is credited with over 160 confirmed kills. Kyle responds by saying “I’m willing to meet my creator and answer for every shot that I took.”

But the trailer also shows Kyle grappling with the gravity of the life-and-death decisions he is forced to make in the heat of battle, including whether or not to pull the trigger when an Iraqi child picks up a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and prepares to fire it at U.S. troops. Throughout, Kyle tries to remain a good father to his young children and a good husband to his wife (played by Sienna Miller).

Kyle was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2009. His memoir was published in 2012 and spent 20 weeks on the New York Time Bestsellers list.

Watch the trailer here.

“American Sniper” premiered at the American Film Institute in November and opens in theaters Dec. 25, 2014.

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