Photo by user Yann de la marne [CC BY-SA 2.0 fr], via Flickr,
Clint Eastwood will make sure we see the true story of one of those times when he brings “The 15:17 to Paris” to the big screen early next year.
And in an unique twist, the real-life heroes play themselves in the movie.
The film will tell the story of those heroes who derailed a terrorist attack during a high- speed train ride, and it will be released worldwide on Feb. 9, according to a Warner Bros. Pictures announcement.
“This is both a touching story of three lifelong friends and a compelling tale of patriotism and heroism, and we felt this would be a great window for audiences everywhere to experience this uplifting true story,” said Sue Kroll, the studio’s president of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution.
Anthony Sadler, Oregon National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Spencer Stone — who play themselves in the movie — were traveling through Europe when they overpowered a man with an AK-47 on a train traveling from Brussels to Paris with more than 500 passengers aboard on Aug. 21, 2015.
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 thwarted attack.
The 87-year-old Eastwood, whose last two films — “Sully” and “American Sniper” — were also about real-life heroics, worked from a screenplay by Dorothy Blyskal, based on the book “The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes” by Sadler, Skarlatos, Stone and Jeffrey E. Stern.
The cast also includes Jenna Fischer (“Hall Pass,” TV’s “The Office”), Judy Greer (“War for the Planet of the Apes”) and Ray Corasani (TV’s upcoming “The Long Road Home”).