American Sniper made a strong showing today with six nominations for the 87th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Bradley Cooper's portrayal of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.
Screenwriter Jason Hall got the movie's other high-profile nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, evidence that the writer's branch of the academy realized just how much balance and nuance Hall added to Kyle's book when writing his screenplay. Jason Hall told Military.com the amazing story of the film's development in this interview last month.
American Sniper was also recognized in the technical categories of Film Editing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. There was no nomination for director Clint Eastwood, even though this film represents some of his strongest recent work.
Hollywood awards watchers think Boyhood will take home most of the major hardware on February 22nd, but Sniper is poised to have a huge weekend at the box office and that might generate new momentum with Oscar voters.
Check out out this exclusive promotion video and let us know what you thought of the movie after you've had a chance to see it for yourself this weekend.
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![Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian Boase, dressed as Santa, waves to Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, before being dropped off by a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.](http://images03.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_large/public/2024-12/santa.jpg?itok=KFVvxUEU "Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian Boase, an intelligence chief, Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team "Rakkasans," 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), waves to Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, before being dropped off by a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to deliver Christmas presents, Dec. 25, 2012. (Spc. Brian Smith-Dutton/U.S. Army photo)")