When adapting American Sniper into a film, the three most important decisions I would need to make as a director would be soundtrack, casting, and essential scenes.
When compiling a soundtrack, I would select songs that represent the patriotic theme of the movie, as well as capture the emotions of characters. A few songs I would select are American Soldier and Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue by Toby Keith, as well as Just a Dream by Carrie Underwood. American soldier describes the same challenges Chris faces with "trying to be a father, raise a daughter and a son" and "be a lover to their mother." Written from a viewpoint of an American Soldier, the song tells how he sees it as his responsibility to fight for our freedom, just as Chris does. It emphasizes that they don't do it for the money, or glory, but that they are willing to sacrifice everything because it's the right thing to do. Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue well represents Chris's desire to fight for our country after seeing the nation falling under attack. The song expresses the same emotions that Chris has in his anger towards terrorism, and determination to get retribution. Just a Dream portrays a wife’s anguish after finding out her husband died while away at war. She struggles with all the plans they had made for a life together, and can't believe that he is really gone. These emotions parallel those that Taya experienced after losing her husband unexpected, and was left to raise two children on her own.
The Casting Choices are a critical part to a successful adaptation. It is important that the actors live up to the expectations that readers have created for them. A cast that is able to spend time training to act the part of that person is needed. Also, since in the case of this movie, they are playing real people, it is vital that they study that person in order to accurately portray them.
A challenge for this movie is selecting essential scenes by narrowing it down to the ones most critical to the plot. The following scenes are those that I would select to include in the movie.
Kyle seeing bombings of the U.S. embassy in 1998, and it driving him to enlist in the navy, where he eventually become a SEAL.
Kyle meets Taya at bar.
Kyle's first kill of a woman who attacked U.S. marines with a grenade.
He returns home to wife and birth of son, where he is distracted by memories of war. Taya begs Chris to come home to his family for good, but Chris wants to continue to serve.
Kyle returns home from second tour to birth of his daughter.
During his fourth tour, Kyle takes out "mustafa" in a long distance shot of 2100 feet (8th longest sniper kill recorded).
He comes home and struggles from PTSD so he decides to work with other veterans also struggling at shooting range.
Kyle says goodbye to his wife and kids as he leaves to help a veteran at the shooting range.
Memorial service for Chris's death after he was tragically killed by the veteran at the shooting range.
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