"American Sniper" is getting a lot of good publicity lately. The film, which stars Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle (the most lethal sniper in US history - having 160 confirmed kills and many, many more unconfirmed ones) has just been nominated for two Critics' Choice Awards.
Just Jared spotted Cooper celebrating after "American Sniper" had been given nominations for "Best Action Movie" and "Best Actor in an Action Movie" (for Cooper).
But all the "American Sniper" news isn't this positive.
Star Tribune has just reported that HarperCollins, the publisher that put out Kyle's memoir, "American Sniper" (the one that was eventually made into the film), is being sued - by none other than Jesse Ventura.
Ventura's claiming that the recent profits HarperCollins has made off "American Sniper" - reportedly several million dollars- were generated from the controversy surrounding Ventura's part in the book.
There is a chapter in "American Sniper" where Kyle gets into a bar fight with another man, who turns out to be Ventura. Ventura is claiming this is false, and that HarperCollins is profiting off the defamation of his character from this false story.
Ventura has actually sued HarperCollins once before - in July, over the defamation in "American Sniper" (but not the profits from it). And he won, with a massive payout: $1.8 million.
Hopefully this won't affect the movie, which may be looking to clean up come awards season and won't want any negative press around. Showbiz411, at least, thinks Cooper's a shoo-in for Best Actor in the next round of Academy awards, even if he was ignore entirely by the Golden Globes (and people usually try to use the nominees from one awards show to predict the next one).
We'll find out soon enough, once "American Sniper's" in theaters and the Academy is making their picks.
Check back soon for the latest "American Sniper" news.
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