“The 15:17 to Paris” Clint Eastwood directed the real-life heroes as themselves

On February 9, 2018, Warner Brothers will release the anticipated “The 15:19 to Paris.” Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and Spencer Stone, will come to the big screen after being directed by Clint Eastwood.  The true story of 3 childhood friends will begin during their childhood and show their friendship leading up to the moment that changed their lives.  Eastwood decided the 3 soldiers needed to play themselves to bring the story to life as it was played out: a train, a terrorist, and the brave men who took took matters into their own hands.

In the early evening of August 21, 2015, the world watch in stunned silence as the media reported a thwarted terrorist attack on Thalys train #9364 bound for Paris. Three courageous young Americans traveling through Europe confronted an ISIS terrorist planning to kill more than 500 people.  Throughout the harrowing ordeal, their friendship never wavers, making it their greatest weapon and allowing them to save all the passengers on board.

The film follows the course of the friends’ lives, from the struggles of childhood through finding their footing in life, to the series of unlikely events leading up to the attack.

The film falls in line with Eastwood’s recent interest in real life heroes following “American Sniper” and “Sully,” both of which were two of his biggest box office hits.  Eastwood had been weighing a handful of movie including “Impossible Odds” which followed humanitarian worker Jessica Buchanan, who was kidnapped while working in Somalia and later rescued by a group of Navy Seals.

While Eastwood usually cast the world’s biggest movie stars, this time the filmmaker enlisted the actual Americans who thwarted a 2015 terrorist attack on a European train to play themselves: Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone. While the men had no professional acting experience, Mr. Skarlatos did make it to the finals of “Dancing With the Stars” shortly after the incident.

“The 15:17 to Paris” targets a similarly broad audience with the populist tagline “In the face of fear, ordinary people can do the extraordinary.” Warner Bros. will release the film in theaters on Feb. 9.

Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers/official movie poster/via Wikipedia.com.  Video courtesy of youtube.com.