A New ‘Iraqi Sniper’ Movie Aims to Be Anti-War Response to ‘American Sniper’
People get angry at the drop of a hat these days, though for fairly good reason. Take a step back and it looks like the rift between the American right and left is cracking open even wider, and culture has been a favored battlefield in recent years. All it takes is one askance line of dialogue or one objectionable scene to catapult the internet into a fit of partisan apoplexy, and a new concept announced today seems custom-made to create controversy. You may remember the hubbub surrounding the politics of American Sniper that we all so enjoyed back in 2014? That was nothing compared to what’s to come.
The Hollywood Reporter lobbed a bombshell when it ran an item that Egyptian-bred filmmaker Amr Salama has planned a new project that would rebut American Sniper rather pointedly titled Iraqi Sniper. The film reverses the perspective of Clint Eastwood’s war blockbuster and makes its villain — the unseen Iraqi sniper known as Mustafa — and positions him as the hero. (The same actor from Eastwood’s film, Sammy Sheik, is attached to reprise his role.) Director Salama’s quote about getting fed up during his American Sniper viewing and vowing to tell his side of the story: “I hated it. That was my inspiration — I hated it so much that I wanted to work on a different version of that story.”
So batten down the hatches, and prepare for a lot of long-winded internet comments. Anybody want to take an over-under on this ever actually getting made?