1st look at Bradley Cooper in Clint Eastwood’s "American Sniper"

PanARMENIAN.Net - The first official images from "American Sniper" have landed online via USA Today, giving a first look at Bradley Cooper's transformation into a muscle-bound soldier. One photo even shows him with Sienna Miller who plays his on-screen wife.

Clint Eastwood sits behind the lens. The movie is based on the true story of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL who came to record the highest number of sniper kills for an American and was named the "Devil of Ramadi" by Iraqi insurgents due to his lethal skills, AceShowbiz said.

The "American Hustle" actor, who put on nearly 40 pounds to portray Kylie, had just one conversation with the soldier to secure the rights to his autobiography before he was killed. "Thank God I got to talk to him once on the phone,'' the star said.

"It was a very quick conversation. But I did tell him how serious I was about making this movie. And he should just know that whatever fears he had about Hollywood, to just put them aside and trust me. That I was going to do everything I could to tell this story."

Despite the war angle, the movie is "a character study," Cooper said. "I had to do right by him and his family, there was really no choice," he explained. "You're sitting across the dining-room table talking to this person's father and mother. And his children and wife are there. And he's passed away. Knowing that they are putting all of their stories in your hands and the responsibly of that, it's actually unique."

The film is coming on Christmas Day this year before going wide on January 16, 2015.