As “American Sniper” tops the box office for the second week in a row, passionate debate continues over this movie about the late Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL famous for being the most lethal sniper in American history.

Addressing some critics, like HBO’s Real Time host Bill Maher and others, who have called the movie “pro-war,” director Clint Eastwood countered in a speech at the Producers Guild Award Nominees Breakfast in Beverly Hills on Saturday.

The 84-year-old screen legend said American Sniper was “The biggest antiwar statement” a film could make because it showed “the fact of what [war] does to the family and the people who have to go back into civilian life like Chris Kyle did,” reported Yahoo Movies.

Eastwood said he and actor Bradley Cooper tried to get the best picture possible of who Kyle was by meeting with his family. “I went down there and met the mother and father and their grand-kids,” Eastwood said.

“It was of great value to [Bradley] because he could get into the history of the family and their feelings about the whole situation,” Eastwood added.