Clint Eastwood will direct "The 15:17 to Paris," about the Americans who thwarted a terrorist attack on a train bound for Paris in 2015. It's based on the nonfiction book by the same title by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone.
The three Americans — a college student and two servicemen — were later awarded the French Legion of Honor medal for their heroics, the AJC reported at the time. [See photos from the ceremony here]
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French train heroes: "We stopped a terrorist – kinda crazy"
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Eastwood's past work here has included "Sully," starring Tom Hanks as heroic airline pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and "Trouble With the Curve," in which he played a cranky baseball scout and co-starred with Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake.
"The 15:17 to Paris" will film in Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia.
"An ISIS terrorist planned to kill more than 500 people. He would have succeeded except for three American friends who refused to give in to fear.
On August 21, 2015, Ayoub El-Khazzani boarded train #9364 in Brussels, bound for Paris. There could be no doubt about his mission: he had an AK-47, a pistol, a box cutter, and enough ammunition to obliterate every passenger on board. Slipping into the bathroom in secret, he armed his weapons. Another major ISIS attack was about to begin.
Khazzani wasn't expecting Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, and Spencer Stone. Stone was a martial arts enthusiast and airman first class in the US Air Force, Skarlatos was a member of the Oregon National Guard, and all three were fearless. But their decision-to charge the gunman, then overpower him even as he turned first his gun, then his knife, on Stone-depended on a lifetime of loyalty, support, and faith.
Their friendship was forged as they came of age together in California: going to church, playing paintball, teaching each other to swear, and sticking together when they got in trouble at school. Years later, that friendship would give all of them the courage to stand in the path of one of the world's deadliest terrorist organizations.
'The 15:17 to Paris' is an amazing true story of friendship and bravery, of near tragedy averted by three young men who found the heroic unity and strength inside themselves at the moment when they, and 500 other innocent travelers, needed it most."
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