Filmmaker Clint Eastwood has settled on his next proje—annnd it’s done. Cut, print, it’s in theaters. In all seriousness, the famously fast-working director took a bit of time after completing and releasing Sully last year, but he’s now decided which film he’ll make next, and it’s yet another story of American heroism. Per Deadline, Eastwood will helm the true story drama The 15:17 to Paris, which chronicles the story of three American friends who took down an ISIS terrorist on the #9364 train from Brussels to Paris in 2015.
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Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, and Spencer Stone happened to be on the train when an ISIS terrorist boarded with an AK-47 and plenty of ammo. But the three friends—two of which were off-duty members of the U.S. armed forces—took the assailant down before he could cause mass casualties. Stone was the first to tackle the terrorist and sustained some serious injuries, and the men admit they were lucky the terrorist’s rifle jammed before he could do additional harm.
Newcomer Dorothy Blyskal wrote the script, and Eastwood is said to be casting right away to begin production later this year. The deal for the Warner Bros. film includes the life rights of the heroes as well as the book The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes.
This continues Eastwood’s recent trend of telling stories about American heroism. It’s not a new concept for the Flags of Our Fathers filmmaker, but his last two features were American Sniper and Sully, both stories of American heroism under difficult/life-threatening circumstances. But as with Sully, I’m curious to see how The 15:17 to Paris sustains an entire film. The story itself is undoubtedly noteworthy, but given that the attack only lasted a few minutes, this is another film in which Eastwood will have to stretch the story before and/or after the event in order to pad out a decent running time.