American Sniper: Bradley Cooper is glad his movie is causing controversy

Academy Award nominated biopic American Sniper has been at the centre of various controversies and debates, but the movie's leading star Bradley Cooper believes that such heated discussions are actually a good thing.

The Oscar-nominated actor said that he is glad that there is debate surrounding his movie in which he plays the character of Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle.

"Any discussion that sort of sheds light to the plight of the soldiers and the men and women in the armed services, for that discussion to occur is fantastic," Cooper said while addressing the media at the annual Academy Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills via USA Today.

The Clint Eastwood-directed movie has earned $247.75m (£164m) over the last six weeks while it collected $30.7m over the Super Bowl weekend, the strongest earning by any war drama in Hollywood's box-office history, Deadline reports. It surpassed Saving Private Ryan, which earned $216.5m.

But Cooper says he's amused by the box office success of his critically acclaimed movie which is nominated for Best Film in this year's Oscars.

"I had no idea. You never know when you make a movie if anyone is going to go see it. So to have the audacity to think it would cause any sort of effect at all would be pretty presumptuous," Cooper said.

"You just hope that people are going to watch it and it's going to have an impact."

He also expressed his excitement for the Oscars this year.

"I was raised on Oscars. Everyone was huddled around the TV [during the Oscars] in my family," he said.

"You always daydream. Not being on the podium, but being there. You see all these people that you loved. All together. It was an odd, surreal thing. To see actors in the flesh there as themselves was thrilling. I always used to fantasise about being there."