Havea-go heroes
How three terrorist thwarters played themselves in Clint Eastwood’s The 15:17 To Paris
On 21 August 2015, three courageous Americans — civilian student Anthony sadler, Oregon national guardsman Alek skarlatos, and us Air Force Airman spencer stone — thwarted topless terrorist Ayoub El Khazzani on board thalys train #9364, using only their wits, bravery and fists. the event caught the attention of Clint Eastwood, who not only planned a film about the attack, but made the bold decision to cast the real-life heroes as themselves in next month’s thriller The 15:17 To Paris.
“It was the definition of mind-blown,” sadler recalls of hearing Eastwood’s offer. the story dramatises not only the event but intertwines it, Sully-style, with the story of the central friendships, upping the acting ante. “At first we were all gung-ho and excited,” laughs skarlatos. “the second he left the room, we were like, ‘Are we sure we can do this?’”
Eastwood nixed the idea of acting lessons. Instead, he wanted the men to “relive our story. He coached us a bit, but not as much you’d think,” says stone. “I felt like we took Clint Eastwood Acting 101,” chimes in skarlatos. to recreate the attack, Eastwood put his cast on the same train, on the same route, running through the same French countryside. “It was strange, but it made it easier to get back into ‘character’, if you will,” says skarlatos.
More cathartic than traumatic, it was as real as things could get. the trio’s Hollywood experience has, according to sadler, put “an exclamation point on our story” — but also started a new journey. “We caught the acting bug,” says stone. “We’d all love to make a career out of it.” Could they make the leap from real-life heroes to fictional ones?
The 15:17 To Paris IS IN CINEMAS FROM 9 FEBRUARY