Report: American Sniper Oscar Chances Undermined By Liberal Academy Members

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An exclusive report by Steve Pond at The Wrap states Academy members who will be voting in this year’s Academy Awards are passing around among other members an article from the liberal publication New Republic that attacks the movie.

American Sniper, which broke box office records this weekend in its national release, has been nominated for six Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor Bradley Cooper, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Adapted Screenplay

While Pond doesn’t name the members denigrating the movie as liberal, it’s safe to assume as conservatives have been laughing off the New Republic article because they were well aware of who Chris Kyle was before the movie was released.

“Over the weekend, multiple Academy members told TheWrap that they had been passing around a recent article by Dennis Jett in The New Republic that attacks the film for making a hero out of Kyle, who said: “The enemy are savages and despicably evil,” and his “only regret is that I didn’t kill more.” Kyle made the statements in his best-selling book, “American Sniper,” on which the film is based.”

…” Academy members seem to be paying attention to the criticism that Eastwood and star/producer Bradley Cooper shouldn’t be celebrating a man who wrote that killing hundreds of Iraqis was “fun.”

““He seems like he may be a sociopath,” one Academy member told TheWrap, adding he had not yet seen the film but had read the article, which is being passed around.”

Pond notes that the New Republic author was criticized for reviewing the film without actually seeing it.

Pond closes his article with an observation by Grantland writer Mark Harris, who profiled American Sniper star Bradley Cooper in 2013, that the movie’s success with conservatives will doom the film’s Oscar chances.

“But the way in which the film has been celebrated, and the spread of naysayers, could have an impact. As Grantland’s Mark Harris tweeted, “’American Sniper’s’ huge opening being touted as a triumph for conservatives is, I think, where its Oscar story ends.””

Academy member Michael Moore attacked American Sniper on Twitter this weekend.

“My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren’t heroes. And invaders r worse”

Moore later praised those who killed Americans who liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein and fought to keep it free from Islamist terrorists as “brave”.

“But if you’re on the roof of your home defending it from invaders who’ve come 7K miles, you are not a sniper, u are brave, u are a neighbor.”

Moore was voted off the Academy’s governing board for documentaries in 2013.

The full article by The Wrap can be read here.

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Kristinn Taylor has contributed to The Gateway Pundit for over ten years. Mr. Taylor previously wrote for Breitbart, worked for Judicial Watch and was co-leader of the D.C. Chapter of FreeRepublic.com. He studied journalism in high school, visited the Newseum and once met David Brinkley.

You can email Kristinn Taylor here, and read more of Kristinn Taylor's articles here.

 

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