REEL FACE: | REAL FACE: |
Spencer Stone
portrays himself in the movie Born: August 13, 1992 Birthplace: Sacramento, California, USA | Spencer Stone
Born: August 13, 1992 Birthplace: Sacramento, California, USA |
Alek Skarlatos
portrays himself in the movie Born: October 10, 1992 Birthplace: Castro Valley, California, USA | Alek Skarlatos
Born: October 10, 1992 Birthplace: Castro Valley, California, USA |
Anthony Sadler
portrays himself in the movie Born: July 13, 1992 Birthplace: Contra Costa, California, USA | Anthony Sadler
Born: July 13, 1992 Birthplace: Contra Costa, California, USA |
Jenna Fischer
Born: March 7, 1974 Birthplace: Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA | Heidi Skarlatos
Born: October 27, 1961 Alek Skarlatos' mother |
Judy Greer
Born: July 20, 1975 Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, USA | Joyce Eskel
Born: September 20, 1953 Birthplace: Sacramento, California, USA Spencer Stone's mother |
Mark Moogalian
portrays himself in the movie Born: April 24, 1964 Birthplace: Durham, North Carolina, USA | Mark Moogalian
Born: April 24, 1964 Birthplace: Durham, North Carolina, USA Shot by terrorist |
Isabelle Risacher Moogalian
portrays herself in the movie Born: October 20, 1962 | Isabelle Risacher Moogalian
Born: October 20, 1962 Mark Moogalian's wife |
Chris Norman
portrays himself in the movie Born: abt 1953 Birthplace: UK | Chris Norman
Born: abt 1953 Birthplace: UK Brit who helped restrain the terrorist |
Ray Corasani
Birthplace: Mashhad, Iran | Ayoub El Khazzani
Born: 1989 Birthplace: Tetouan, Morocco Terrorist who carried out the Paris train attack |
Yes. This is in line with The 15:17 to Paris true story. In explaining why he chose to become an Air Force medic, Spencer Stone said, "Originally I wanted to be a PJ (Pararescueman). Got disqualified for depth perception. ... I always wanted to do medical stuff, so I picked [it] as my number one and I ended up getting it." Stone says that he believes everything happens for a reason, explaining that his medical training is what enabled him to save Mark Moogalian's life on the train. -OpsLens Interview
What is often referred to as the Paris train attack (named for the destination), took place just before 6 pm on August 21, 2015 on the crowded Thalys high-speed train 9364 carrying 554 passengers from Amsterdam to Paris. The train (pictured below) was moving at over 150 miles per hour and had just crossed the Belgian-French border prior to the attack. Terrorist Ayoub El Khazzani, then 25, boarded the train in Brussels.
Yes, Spencer getting picked on at school comes directly from The 15:17 to Paris book on which the movie is based. Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos also got into trouble at school and often did find themselves in the principal's office. In grade school, a teacher did inform Spencer's mom that she thought he had ADD and told her, "Well if you don't medicate him now, he'll self-medicate later." Both Spencer and Alek switched from public school to a Christian school around the time of junior high. Anthony Sadler arrived around the same time from a different public school, specifically to play on the basketball team. All three were not used to Christian school and refused to conform. They swore and acted out. Spencer and Alek got to know Anthony well, in part from spending so much time together in the principal's office (and because their last names all start with 'S', which meant they always lined up next to each other).
Like in The 15:17 to Paris movie, two of the Americans were in the military. 23-year-old Spencer Stone was a medic in the Air Force, and 22-year-old Aleksander "Alek" Skarlatos was an Oregon National Guard Specialist who had recently returned from a stint in Afghanistan. Their friend Anthony Sadler, 23, was a senior at California State University in Sacramento.
In addition to American passengers Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and Spencer Stone, three other men helped to subdue terrorist Ayoub El Khazzani. 51-year-old French-American professor Mark Moogalian, who teaches English at the Sorbonne, was the second person to confront the attacker after he emerged from the bathroom with an assault rifle, a pistol, and the blade from a box cutter. The shirtless gunman had already overpowered a 28-year-old French banker known only as Damien A., who attempted to tackle El Khazzani as he was waiting to use the bathroom and El Khazzani was exiting. Damien A. fell to the floor in the struggle. Moogalian managed to wrestle the rifle away from El Khazzani, but as he turned to get his wife out of harm's way, El Khazzani pulled out a concealed 9mm Luger pistol and shot him in the back. The bullet traveled slightly upwards through Moogalian's body, breaking two ribs and piercing his left lung before exiting toward the front of his neck (CNN Mark Moogalian Interview). Moogalian was left bleeding heavily on the ground as El Khazzani picked up his rifle.
Christopher Norman, a 62-year-old British IT consultant, readied himself in his seat to make his move on the terrorist when he came up the aisle. "When he didn't actually appear in front of me and I heard some banging and thumping, I thought, well somebody's having a go at him. So I joined in," says Norman (The National). By that point, the three Americans were tackling and beating on the gunman as he tried to reach for his weapons. Once American Spencer Stone choked him unconscious, Norman and a French train driver assisted Americans Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler in holding down the terrorist and hog-tying him using pieces of clothing given to them by some of the passengers. It was Norman's idea to tie him up. "Do I think of myself as a hero? No," he told reporters in Arras, France. "If there are heroes, it's [Alex Skarlatos] and Spencer. And I think without Spencer we'd all be dead." This Paris train attack footage shows the gunman tied up on the floor of the train moments after he was subdued.
Yes. American Alek Skarlatos discovered that the bullet in the chamber of the AK-47 assault rifle that 25-year-old terrorist Ayoub El Khazzani was carrying had a faulty primer, which means that when the firing pin struck the bullet, the chemical reaction that was supposed to cause a spark didn't happen. It never ignited the gunpowder that was supposed to fire the bullet. "I mean if that guy's weapon had been functioning properly, I don't even want to think how it would have went," Skarlatos told Sky News. He's mostly correct in the movie when he says that the chances of that happening are one in a million. A faulty primer is indeed a very rare occurrence. Train occupants reported that the gunman pointed his rifle at them and tried to fire. They heard a horrifying "click, click, click." (The Guardian).
Yes. The 15:17 to Paris true story reveals that Spencer Stone and the others were really that close to dying. Ayoub El Khazzani lifted his AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle, took aim at Stone and tried to fire, but like in the movie, the gun had jammed, which allowed Stone to get to him. "It's a pretty paralyzing feeling," Stone told The Guardian. "You look at a guy with a loaded, automatic AK-47, and you think the only result is going to be your death. Running at him, we had no hope of actually making it to him." Stone told Ellen Degeneres that prior to deciding to rush the terrorist, he noticed that the terrorist had either jammed the gun or something else was wrong because he hadn't started shooting yet.
Yes. In addition to pointing the rifle and trying to fire at Spencer as Spencer charged him, Ayoub El Khazzani pulled out a 9mm Luger pistol while Spencer was attempting to secure a chokehold. As seen in the movie, the terrorist reached behind him and pointed the gun at Spencer's head. He pulled the trigger but the pistol didn't go off because there was no bullet in the chamber.
Yes. As they fought to subdue Ayoub El Khazzani, Alek Skarlatos first tried to shoot him in the head with the machine gun but it was already jammed. Then after Alek got the pistol away from the terrorist, he tried to shoot him in the head again as Spencer Stone struggled to hold him. Alek pulled the trigger twice but the pistol didn't fire.
No. The most critically injured was Professor Mark Moogalian, 51, who was shot in the back with a pistol after wrestling the rifle away from terrorist Ayoub El Khazzani. The bullet traveled slightly upward through Moogalian's body, breaking two ribs and piercing his left lung before exiting the front of his neck. He was bleeding heavily. Once the gunman was restrained, American Spencer Stone, himself badly injured, utilized his training as an Air Force medic to administer first aid to try and control Moogalian's bleeding. At first, he tried to wrap his shirt around Moogalian's neck but that didn't help, so he then stuck two fingers into the wound and pressed down on an artery, which halted the bleeding (Reuters). The Paris Train Attack Video shows footage of Stone tending to Moogalian just a few feet away from the hogtied terrorist. Stone, a devout Christian, asked Moogalian if he wanted to pray. "He actually said no," recalled Alek Skarlatos (The Guardian).
While trying to restrain El Khazzani, Stone had put him in a choke hold, but the terrorist still managed to cut him with a box cutter blade in the head, neck and hand, severing Stone's thumb to the point that the bone was visible. The other two Americans, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, were uninjured.
The 15:17 to Paris book states that following the attack, it took approximately 30 minutes for the train to reach the station in Arras, France, where it had been diverted. In the movie, the time seems to go by more quickly.
Yes. According to France's BFM TV, 25-year-old gunman Ayoub El Khazzani initially maintained that he "found" the weapons in an abandoned suitcase in a park in Brussels, Belgium, claiming that he wasn't a terrorist and was only trying to take the train passengers hostage for ransom. El Khazzani's lawyer, Sophie David, said that he was trying to carry out a robbery in order to get money to feed himself. "He denies any terrorist dimension to his actions -- the suggestion makes him almost laugh," said David shortly after the attack (CNN).
French officials and others believed that the story was a fabrication designed to cover his true intentions. They pointed to the fact that he was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a Luger pistol, a box cutter, about 300 rounds of ammo, and a bottle of gasoline, which clearly indicates that he was planning a massacre. The truth came out more than a year later, in December 2016, when El Khazzani's lawyer released a statement to the Associated Press saying that he had been under orders from an Islamic State terrorist cell to carry out the August 2015 attack on the train. It turns out the orders came from Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind behind the November 2015 Paris attacks on cafe terraces, a concert hall and a stadium that killed 130 people. Abaaoud, 28, died during a police raid five days after the November attacks in St. Denis, a Paris suburb (The Washington Post).
Prosecutors also discovered YouTube audio files on El Khazzani's phone, which he listened to immediately before the attack. In the audio, a man tells "his followers to raise arms and fight in the name of the prophet."
Yes. As shown in the movie, President Hollande of France presided over the Legion of Honour ceremony for Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Chris Norman on August 24, 2015, three days after the Paris train attack. The men were made Knights of the Legion of Honour (the wounded Mark Moogalian was awarded the distinction on September 13, 2015 and the passenger known only as Damien A. was expected to be similarly honored). They also received the medal of the city of Arras, where the Thalys train was diverted, and the Prime Minister of Belgium awarded some of the heroes with the Civic Medal 1st class.
In the United States, Spencer Stone was awarded the Purple Heart and the Airman's Medal. He was meritoriously promoted two grades to Staff Sergeant. Alek Skarlatos was given the Soldier's Medal, the top distinction given to military personnel for heroism outside of combat. Civilian Anthony Sadler was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Valor. Stone, Sadler and Skarlatos were also invited to the White House and were thanked in person by President Obama.
Yes, at least certain scenes of it were, including the attack, which was recreated on a train going back and forth between Amsterdam and Paris. It was shot over the course of five days and Clint Eastwood was intent on making sure it was true to reality. "We're wearing the same clothes. It's Mark [Moogalian]. It's his wife. Everything was exactly the same," said Spencer Stone. Director Eastwood didn't want the typical far-fetched action-movie suspense. In his mind, the two minutes that the actual ordeal lasted were exciting enough. -Los Angeles Times
Yes. Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler, all 25 at the time of the movie's release, hope to pursue acting professionally. Spencer Stone moved to Los Angeles after making the movie and Anthony Sadler plans to follow. Alek Skarlatos appeared on Season 21 of Dancing with the Stars, finishing third. They are taking acting classes and have secured agents and publicists. Sadler recalls a moment between takes when Clint Eastwood looked at him and said, "Not a bad way to make a living, is it?" Sadler agreed. However, he realizes it's not an easy business. "If it ends now, it would be enough." -Los Angeles Times
The 15:17 to Paris interviews below feature the real heroes who were cast to play themselves in the Clint Eastwood movie. Listen to the true story of the Paris train attack described by the heroes who lived it and see actual cell phone footage shot by Anthony Sadler just after the attack.