"American Sniper," the movie about Chris Kyle, the most prolific sniper in U.S. history, did not include a scene of his death after his widow, Taya Kyle, petitioned director Clint Eastwood and other senior figures at the studio,
the New York Daily News reported.
The studio cut a final scene that would have showed the Navy SEAL gunned down by a troubled Marine at a Texas gun range.
"Five days after Chris was murdered, (Taya) called and said, 'this is going to be how my children remember their father, so I want you to get [it] right,'" screenwriter Jason Hall told the Daily News.
The film's creators had drafted five versions of his untimely death and brainstormed how to film it.
"We went around and around," Hall said.
Ultimately, the film ended with Bradley Cooper as Kyle, arriving at the Rough Creek Lodge rifle range.
"In the end, I think we felt that this was a film about Chris' life and not about his death," Hall told the Daily News. "We also wanted to be careful not to glorify the guy who did it."
Hall also said that as a father he was affected by Taya's plea as he considered how the movie's end would impact Kyle's kids.
"I didn't want it to be the thing that was hanging over their heads for the very rest of their lives as the film that showed their father getting shot," he said.
Hall also reacted to criticism that the film glorified the Iraq War.
"Any time a movie gets a reaction, it's a good reaction. And the fact that people are talking about soldiers and about Iraq is a positive reaction," he told the Daily News.
He added that many veterans' associations have told him that the movie served as a catalyst for conversations about a period of a soldier's life that often is not discussed.
"The benefit that we have seen from it and hopefully continues, is that soldiers see the movie and they come home and they start talking," Hall told the Daily News.
Hall also told the Daily News that after spending more than 200 hours talking to Taya and other people who knew Chris, he was affected emotionally.
"You hope that translates (to the screen)," he told the Daily News. "You try and put your blood, sweat, and tears on the page and try and live it and feel it every day. I couldn't be prouder of the work that Bradley and Clint did."
The film has been nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture.