One might think that Clint Eastwood would be upset about the criticism that his Academy Award-nominated movie "American Sniper" has received from political commentators such as Michael Moore and Bill Maher. Surprisingly, his recent response was "They're right."
Eastwood's response was given to a cameraman from TMZ. The former was climbing into his car at the time.
Some of Moore's primary criticisms of the film were that it referred to Iraqis as "savages," and seemed to contain many elements of the Vietnam War although the setting was the Iraq War.
In the past, Moore had been quite defensive of his film. He had argued that portraying the lives of war veterans who return to civilian life was "the biggest antiwar statement" of any movie, according to Mediaite.
However, Eastwood's statement was relatively unexpected. That is because his responses to his films critics have been minimal.
In terms of commercial success, Eastwood's film has earned over $360 USD at the box office. It is also nominated for six Academy Awards.
However, "American Sniper" has also received a moderate amount of criticism. This is partially due to allegations that large chunks of the memoirs of Chris Kyle (the film's protagonist) were untrue.
In terms of his political affiliation, Eastwood has made an appearance at the Republican National Convention (RNC). However, he is generally considered as a moderate.
In fact, Eastwood has publicly critical of the Iraq War. So, one possible theory is that he supported a film about a war that he ideologically opposed. Perhaps we will know for certain in the future.