Clint Eastwood: 'American Sniper' and He Are Anti-war

Even though he has done plenty of movies about war, Clint Eastwood says both he and his Academy Award-nominated movie "American Sniper" are anti-war.

In comments to the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television, Eastwood said the sum of "American Sniper," the biopic of late marksman Chris Kyle, was an anti-war theme, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"I think it's nice for veterans, because it shows what they go through, and that life – and the wives and families of veterans," Eastwood said. "It has a great indication of the stresses they are under. And I think that all adds up to kind of an anti-war [message]."

Eastwood told his Loyola Marymount audience that he is attracted to war films because of the natural drama and conflict in them. The famous actor and director, though, said he considers himself anti-war.

"I was not a big fan of going to war in Iraq or Afghanistan, for several reasons, several practical reasons," Eastwood said. "One, [in] Afghanistan, the British had never been successful there; the Russians had 10 years there and hadn't been successful… Iraq, I know, was a different deal, because there was a lot of intelligence that told us that bad things could happen there, and we're never sure how that ended up, whether it was pro or con. [But] I tend to err on the side of less is best."

Eastwood's "American Sniper" anti-war sentiments were shared by the movie's screenwriter Jason Hall in comments to Time magazine in January.

"Chris was a man who believed in something and who therefore was useful to a government that needed him to go to war," Hall told Time. "It cost him his physical health, his mental health and almost cost him his family – but Chris probably would have paid the price over and over again if he'd been asked, which is both patriotic and totally tragic."

"American Sniper" was up for six Academy Awards including best movie at this year's Oscars. The movie and raked in $517 million worldwide at the box office, $341 million domestically, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

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