The current No. 1 movie in America stars Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller and a fake baby.
Clint Eastwood's latest film, American Sniper, tells the story of Chris Kyle, a real-life Navy SEAL known as the deadliest marksman in the United States' armed forces.
[seealso slug="oscar-films-honest-posters"]
The scene in the Oscar-nominated film where the fake baby is most glaringly obvious leaked online before being promptly deleted by Warner Bros. due to copyright infringement.
Miller breastfeeds the plastic infant and hands it to Cooper while they discuss the toll his military service is taking on their family. It's serious stuff, but the drama is undercut by the absurdity of watching them caress a plastic baby. The actors seem visibly uncomfortable as they attempt to be tender with their fake child. At one point, the mechanized baby's hand twitches bizarrely.
In a now-deleted tweet, screenwriter Jason Hall provided an explanation: "Hate to ruin the fun but real baby #1 showed up with a fever. Real baby #2 was no show. (Clint voice) Gimme the doll, kid."
That, however, has not been confirmed by Warner Bros., so as the #FakeBaby controversy unfolds, moviegoers are left with more questions than answers.
The reason they used a fake baby in Amcn Sniper is because Clint Eastwood eats babies and didn't want to be tempted by a delicious real baby— Ike Barinholtz (@ikebarinholtz) January 21, 2015
The fake baby in American Sniper still looks more realistic than old man Armie Hammer in J. Edgar. pic.twitter.com/QvpLZQJpCL— Adam Batty (@adamhopelies) January 19, 2015
Are you really THAT shocked that a man who once interviewed a chair would put a fake baby in his movie? pic.twitter.com/FZAp6iGx8Q— ✨Christine Erickson✨ (@christerickson) January 21, 2015
If that fake baby from American Sniper doesn't get a Best Supporting Fake Baby nom, I will be outraged.— CutPrintFilm (@cutprintfilm) January 15, 2015
The fake baby's buzz might have been a little too late for a coveted Oscar nomination, but plastic fingers crossed that it gets a chance to present an award at the big show.