--- title: Bradley Cooper Jokes About American Sniper's Baby description: Bradley Cooper found the fake baby in American Sniper as funny as everyone else canonical: https://time.com/4078835/bradley-cooper-american-sniper-fake-baby/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-19T20:40:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:54:48.226Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Bradley Cooper Jokes About American Sniper's' Fake Baby og:description: He thought it was as ridiculous as everyone else did og:url: https://time.com/4078835/bradley-cooper-american-sniper-fake-baby/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte06b828bfe8898d2/698868e30b72e36ebe6e665e/bradley-cooper.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bradley Cooper og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bradley Cooper Jokes About American Sniper's' Fake Baby twitter:description: He thought it was as ridiculous as everyone else did twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte06b828bfe8898d2/698868e30b72e36ebe6e665e/bradley-cooper.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bradley Cooper Thought the Fake Baby in _American Sniper_ Was Ridiculous Too by [Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly Oct 19, 2015 8:40 PM UTC  Bradley Cooper on Oct. 18, 2015 in New York City. Bradley Cooper on Oct. 18, 2015 in New York City.Theo Wargo—Getty Images by [Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly Oct 19, 2015 8:40 PM UTC Bradley Cooper found the fake baby in _American Sniper_ [as funny as everyone else](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/fake-baby-american-sniper%5Fn%5F6506858.html). “I literally couldn’t believe it,” a nearly hysterical Cooper told Ellen DeGeneres on Monday’s _The Ellen DeGeneres Show_. “Like I couldn’t believe we were working with the plastic baby.” The infamous scene, which went viral earlier this year as _American Sniper_ broke box-office records, finds Cooper’s Navy SEAL Chris Kyle having a serious discussion with his wife (played by Sienna Miller) while holding the doll. At one point, Cooper uses his thumb to move the obviously fake baby’s arm in an attempt to give it some life. “I was like, ‘This is nuts,’” Cooper said to DeGeneres, before discussing the thumb move and recalling how he joked to the crew that it would save the project $100,000 in computer-generated effects. “Eat your heart out, Muppets,” Cooper added. In a now-deleted tweet, _American Sniper_ screenwriter Jason Hall [wrote that director Clint Eastwood opted for the fake baby](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/american-snipers-fake-baby-mocked-764702) after the first child selected for the sequence became ill and a second baby failed to show up on set. Speaking on Monday, DeGeneres said Eastwood opted for the doll because real children are unpredictable. Regardless of the reason, however, Cooper said he formed a bond with his inanimate counterpart. “I have to say, I grew to be very fond of that \[doll\],” Cooper told DeGeneres on Monday. “I fell in love with that plastic thing.” Watch Cooper discuss the fake baby above; video of the actual sequence in _American Sniper_ can be found below. [_This article originally appeared on EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/19/bradley-cooper-american-sniper-fake-baby) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4078835/bradley-cooper-american-sniper-fake-baby/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4078835/bradley-cooper-american-sniper-fake-baby/"},"headline":"Bradley Cooper Thought the Fake Baby in American Sniper Was Ridiculous Too","datePublished":"2015-10-19T20:40:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:54:48.226Z","description":"“Eat your heart out, Muppets\"","url":"https://time.com/4078835/bradley-cooper-american-sniper-fake-baby/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte06b828bfe8898d2/698868e30b72e36ebe6e665e/bradley-cooper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte06b828bfe8898d2/698868e30b72e36ebe6e665e/bradley-cooper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bradley Cooper","caption":"Bradley Cooper","creditText":"Theo Wargo—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4078835/bradley-cooper-american-sniper-fake-baby/","name":"Bradley Cooper Thought the Fake Baby in American Sniper Was Ridiculous Too"}}]}] ```