Spielberg to Direct ‘American Sniper’ Film on the Late Chris Kyle

By Beth Ford Roth, KPBS

Actor Bradley Cooper will play former Navy SEAL and "American Sniper" Chris Kyle in a new movie to be directed by Stephen Spielberg.

A DreamWorks Studios spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the film will be based on Kyle's bestseller, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.

Cooper, according to USA Today, has long owned the film rights to Kyle's book. Spielberg joining the project, however, adds lustre to the film.

As Home Post previously reported, Kyle, 38, was shot to death alongside Chad Littlefield at the Rough Creek Lodge and Resort shooting range in Texas last February.

Marine veteran Eddie Ray Routh has been charged with their murders. Kyle was reportedly attempting to help Routh with his post-traumatic stress disorder when he was shot and killed.