Critics have accused Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-nominated American Sniper of having a political agenda, but the 84-year-old director revealed after a recent screening of the film that his political views don’t even slightly match the accusations placed against him. Despite portraying a multitude of violent characters during his lengthy career as an action star, Eastwood stated that he actually “abhors violence.”

American Sniper was a massive hit in the box office upon its release, crushing the January record books with an incredible $89.5 million opening weekend and earning six Oscar nominations. The film has received primarily positive reviews, The Guardian‘s Lindy West stated that the real American Sniper, Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, was a “hate-filled killer” and criticized the film based on his memoir for portraying him as a hero. New York magazine continued that sentiment and labeled American Sniper as “Republican platform movie,” but Eastwood identifies as a libertarian, and supports gay marriage and believes climate change is a problem. He’s even described his own politics as a mixture of Milton Friedman and anti-war activist Noam Chomsky.

 

“I was against going into the war in Iraq since I figured we would probably trip over ourselves in some way,” said Eastwood after screening the film at the Academy of Motion Picture Artists and Sciences’ Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills last month. “I had a big question when we went into Afghanistan. Did anybody ever study the history of Afghanistan, not only with the British, but the Russians?…Contrary to public opinion, I abhor violence.”

He first revealed his anti-war political mindset at the 2012 Republican National Convention, when he remarkably got the audience to cheer on his criticism of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

“I know you were against the war in Iraq, and that’s okay,” Eastwood said to chair-Obama. “But you thought the war in Afghanistan was okay. You thought that was something that was worth doing. We didn’t check with the Russians to see how they did there for the 10 years.”

Eastwood explained to the Toronto Star that he started being against violence during World War II, which he hoped would be “the one to end all wars.”

“Four years later, I was standing at the draft board being drafted during the Korean conflict, and then after that there was Vietnam, and it goes on and on forever…I just wonder…does this ever stop? And no, it doesn’t.”

However, he and American Sniper star Bradley Cooper didn’t mean for the film to carry an anti-war message, or any political message.

“For me, and for Clint, this movie was always a character study about what the plight is for a soldier,” said Cooper in an interview with The Daily Beast. “It’s not a political discussion about war, even. It’s a discussion about the reality. And the reality is that people are coming home [from war], and we have to take care of them.”