Getty ImagesSeth Rogen and Michael Moore are both sparking controversy again, this time over comments made about the Oscar-nominated film American Sniper, currently ruling the box office.
The film stars Bradley Cooper, 40, as an American soldier and Iraq War fighter. It was directed by Clint Eastwood, an Oscar winner, and is based on a true story.
"American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that's showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds," Rogen, a comedy film actor and writer who recently drew controversy over The Interview, tweeted on Sunday.
Quentin Tarantino's 2008 film Inglorious Basterds starred Brad Pitt as a U.S. military commander fighting in World War II and showed a fictional Nazi propaganda flick about a German sniper who is hailed as a hero over his killings of Allied troops.
Rogen later clarified his remarks.
"I just said something 'kinda reminded' me of something else. I actually liked American Sniper," he tweeted on Monday. "It just reminded me of the Tarantino scene."
"I wasn't comparing the two," he added. "Big difference between comparing and reminding. Apples remind me of oranges. Can't compare them, though.
Rogen is known for his dark sense of humor. He received a slew of angry responses and insults over his comments.
Moore, a 60-year-old outspoken Oscar-winning director known for his controversial documentaries, including Fahrenheit 9/11, also stirred controversy over remarks he made about snipers on Sunday.
"My uncle killed by sniper in WW2," he tweeted. "We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse."
Following an online backlash, Moore later wrote on his Facebook page on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, that his uncle, an Army paratrooper, was shot dead by a Japanese sniper during World War II and that his dad had always said, 'Snipers are cowards. They don't believe in a fair fight...Only a coward will shoot someone who can't shoot back."
He did, however, have positive things to say about the actual movie American Sniper.
"Awesome performance from Bradley Cooper. One of the best of the year. Great editing. Costumes, hair, makeup superb!" he wrote.
...then got sarcastic.
"Oh... and too bad Clint gets Vietnam and Iraq confused in his storytelling," he said. "And that he has his characters calling Iraqis 'savages' throughout the film."
"I think most Americans don't think snipers are heroes," he said, adding, "Hopefully not on this weekend when we remember that man in Memphis, Tenn., who was killed by a sniper's bullet."
American Sniper has been nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, and has made more than $108.7 million since its Christmas Day limited release, most of it over the current holiday weekend, Warner Bros. Pictures said on Monday.