Bold, 'Unprecedented' Move From Warner Bros. in Film About Paris Train Heroes

Cortney O'Brien | July 12, 2017 5:45 PM

We brought you the news that Clint Eastwood is directing the film The 15:17 to Paris to tell the heroic story of three young men who thwarted a terror attack on a train in Paris in 2015. On Wednesday, Warner Bros. made a surprising announcement in terms of casting. In lieu of A-list celebrities, the three young heroes who boarded that Paris train will be portrayed by the actual heroes themselves.

As some of you may have heard we have had the incredible good fortune to have the legendary filmmaker Clint Eastwood decide to make a movie about the train incident. I know we all loved his movies growing up and he is a personal hero of mine. We are incredibly honored to have this opportunity to have such talented people tell our story, and incredibly humbled because that day could've turned out so different. Thank you all. God is good.
A post shared by Alek Skarlatos (@alekskarlatos) on Apr 20, 2017 at 3:24pm PDT

Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone, Oregon National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and civilian Anthony Sadler have no Hollywood experience, aside from Skarlatos's turn on "Dancing With the Stars." To his credit, he came in fourth place on the reality show and even joined the "Dancing With the Stars" tour.

As USA Today describes, to give the leading roles to the actual subjects being portrayed is "nearly unprecedented" in Hollywood. They are usually lucky just to get cameos.