Clint Eastwood offered a seemingly surprising reply when asked his thoughts about critics of “American Sniper”: “They’re right.”

Photographers hounded the director of the record-breaking, Academy Award-nominated film Monday night as he left a Hollywood restaurant. In footage captured by TMZ.com, Eastwood is asked what he thinks about Michael Moore and Bill Maher’s criticism of the movie about real-life Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.

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“Well, they’re right,” Eastwood, 84, said, before hopping into a waiting car and being driven off.

Maher, the host of HBO’s “Real Time,” had criticized the flick, calling Kyle a “psychopath patriot.”

In a Twitter post last month, Moore, the filmmaker behind “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Bowling for Columbine,” wrote that his uncle was killed by a sniper during World War II. “We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren’t heroes. And invaders r worse,” Moore said.

The message set off a firestorm, with many condemning the liberal director’s comments. In a follow-up post on Facebook, Moore said he “didn’t say a word about ‘American Sniper.’ ”