What is it like to look behind the lens of a rifle as the most lethal sniper in U.S. Military history?

As a skilled sharpshooter and a U.S. Navy Seal protecting his men, the view may appear clear and precise down to the millimeter, but as a husband, father and just as an overall human being, the visibility can be much cloudier and messier than one could ever imagine.

Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood tried to capture this intense vantage point as well in the life of U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (played by Bradley Cooper), the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history, through his latest film "American Sniper." The film opens in New York City, Los Angeles and Dallas on Christmas Day, following its nationwide release on Jan. 16.

Dubbed "Legend" by his fellow countrymen, Kyle may have been known for his impressive skills as a sharpshooter, but there were many more layers to this man who led a dual life. He was also a loving husband to Taya Kyle and a father who wanted to help his fellow veterans in need upon his return home from duty -- an act of kindness that ultimately and tragically took his life. (In February 2013, after surviving four tours in Iraq, Kyle was killed by a war veteran he was helping at a shooting range in Texas.)

"American Sniper" is based on a screenplay written by Executive Producer Jason Hall, based on Kyle's autobiography, "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," written by Kyle, Scott McEwan and Jim DeFelice. The autobiography was a runaway bestseller, spending 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, 13 of those at No. 1.

On Tuesday, the main characters of "American Sniper," Cooper, a two-time Oscar nominee for his work in "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle," British actress Sienna Miller ("Foxcatcher"), Hall and Taya, the real-life wife of Chris Kyle who helped to tell her husband's story, attended a press conference in New York for the film.

Hall, who also co-wrote the thriller "Paranoia" starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Liam Hemsworth, spoke to Latin Post in an exclusive interview where he shared what it was like to bring Kyle's story to the big screen.

"I met Chris in 2010. I went down to Texas to meet him -- that was before the book. I just heard stories of this guy and what he had done in Iraq. I heard that he was this great warrior and that he had more confirmed kills than anyone (160) and he hit this very long shot that was almost a mile," he explained.

With a grandfather who was a World War II vet, an uncle who was a Marine in Vietnam and a half-brother who was disabled in the Army during Desert Storm, Hall was also captivated by Kyle's story.

"When I met Chris, it was palpable on him. It was a visceral thing and you could look into his eyes, and you felt like 'Wow, this guy has been through it.' You could feel a feel the turmoil and you could feel that he didn't feel like he was all the way back from this war," he added. "You could feel a sense of some void, some loss that he had experienced -- almost like a subtraction from his humanity through the course of these 10 years."

Yet after seeing Kyle's eyes light up for his family, Hall said, "I realized in that moment, 'wow I bet he was somebody different before all of this.' Then I saw his wife, and in her I saw somebody who had been to war too, through the same war. She had endured close to 10 years of all of this."

Over the course of a couple of years getting to know Kyle and his family, the script was finally complete. Then in a tragic twist of fate, the day after the script was turned in, Hall got the sad news that Kyle had been murdered.

"It was really traumatic...I had gotten close to Chris. It was heart-wrenching. I had Taya and his kids' voices in my head. I had been living with them in the writing of this," he added.

A few days after the funeral, Taya called Hall and told him to proceed with the film.

"If you're going to do this, you're going to do this right because this is going to play a part in the way my kids remember their father,'" she said. "It felt like a burden in that moment, but what it turned into was this huge privilege," Hall explained.

With a "more emotional" and more "feminine perspective," Hall got a closer look at who Chris was a person and ended up re-writing 60 percent of the script.

"We had this symbiotic relationship that not only helped the movie, which was great but also allowed her to grieve in a productive way where she wasn't sitting on the couch and crying in a pillow, she was cementing her husband's legacy in a beautiful way," he said.

"It's not a movie about the Iraq War, it's a movie about what someone like Chris has to go through, a solider, and the dilemma and the horror it and the battle internally and with the family," Cooper explained. "That's all this movie is about...It's not political movie at all, it's a movie about a man, a character study. We had the privilege of telling this man's story...The hope is that you can somehow have your eyes open to the struggle of a solider as opposed to the specificity of a war."

While Kyle was the "Achilles of Iraq in a lot of ways," Hall pointed out that, at the same time, he suffered from his tremendous sacrifice, which happens with a lot of men serving in the military.

"These are real characters," he said, referring to Latino U.S. Navy Seal Tony in the film, who is played by Rey Gallegos ("Rambo," Bad Boyz II" and "American Wedding"). In real life, Tony has completed nine deployments.

What does Hall hope others serving in the military get out of "American Sniper?"

"For the average rank and file guy out there, I hope they see this mighty warrior suffered as well, and I'm not above asking for help. This guy was able to ask for some help. Maybe it will help some guys understand that other guys suffer as well and that if they don't feel ok, it's ok not to feel ok and they can talk about it," he said.

"And more than that, I hope that people understand in a better way, in a clearer way what that sacrifice is, and so when they see these veterans, when they see these Americans, Latinos, whoever it is who lives next door or around that they know a clearer picture of their sacrifice and understand it a little better. So maybe they can open a dialogue so we can talk to these guys more and engage them in conversation."

Taya Kyle also touched upon the need to better support all of our veterans.

"This country has gone through such a range of support and lack of support. From the World Wars when we are sort of all in it together to Vietnam where we were most certainly were not together, and I think we have learned from that and how we're coming to a place where we are somewhere in between. I don't feel like we're all in anymore, which I think is extremely difficult for the people who serve," she explained. 

"I feel like this movie is going to be powerful in taking it to another level for people. So that we're starting to understand their experience on the battlefield and starting to thank them for what they are doing. So hopefully we will raise their awareness to another level that it's not just their service on the battlefield, but it that it's bringing the battlefield home and taking home to the battlefield and trying to manage that. That was very important to Chris and to me."

"American Sniper" will open on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, in Los Angeles, New York City and Dallas and will hit theaters nationwide on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015.

Also, check out the official trailer of "American Sniper."