'American Sniper': How Bradley Cooper Always Stayed in Character On Set
The actor who played Chris Kyle's father reveals secrets from set.
— -- Bradley Cooper recently earned an Oscar nod for his portrayal of Chris Kyle and for good reason.
Not only did Cooper pack on 40 pounds for the role, he also got Kyle's accent down.
In fact, Ben Reed, who played Kyle's father in the film, said Cooper, 40, as far as he knows, always kept the Texas accent going when he was on set.
Reed, 49, and Cooper got to interact during Kyle's wedding scene and Reed said he got to talk with Cooper quite a bit for that.
"He always kept the accent going," Reed told ABC News. "I like to do that too, because it's tough going in and out of an accent. You just want to stay with it the whole time and just keep talking as your character. Then when the clock goes off and the alarm goes off and you are done with work, get out of it."
He continued, "I wasn't around after work was over, but I want to say that he stayed in character with that accent the entire time he was shooting the movie."
Reed also said Cooper was a producer on the film and "was always around, always on the set, making sure everything was smooth."
Clint Eastwood directed the film and Reed said the culture on set was something he's not used to.
"It was so calm and so quiet," he said. "A lot of sets I'm on they are just loud and there's banging. It was like everything was almost in a whisper. I don't know if that's because Clint's been working with these guys for 25 years but as an actor, there's no distractions. You can stay in character and really work on your craft. I appreciated that."
Reed's been in touch with executive producer Rob Lawrence, who works with director Clint Eastwood directly, and said "they are over the top appreciative of how the movie has been accepted."
As for controversies like the fake baby, Reed laughed that off.
"Why is that a controversy?" he said. "The one baby was sick. The one baby didn't show up, Clint said, 'Grab the doll, let's do this.' He's not gonna wait ahalf a day to get another baby in. Why is that even a topic."