Bradley Cooper Didn't Spend Much Time with 'American Sniper' Inspiration Before He Died

Bradley Cooper gets ready to catch a train on Sunday afternoon (December 21) in New York City.

Recently, the 39-year-old actor revealed that he didn’t have much time to spend with the person his American Sniper character was based on.

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“We went into the project thinking I would be doing it hand-in-hand with him,” Bradley told NPR. “And so I only talked to him one time on the phone, and that was to hope to sort of soften any of the fears he had about what Hollywood would do to his story. And we had a great conversation, but little did I ever think that would be the last time I’d ever get to talk to him, and that I’d never get to meet him. So when he was horribly murdered, everything changed.”