In 2015 they were hailed as heroes by U.S. President Barack Obama and given France?s highest honors. This week, the three American childhood friends who overpowered a man wielding an assault rifle and a box cutter on a passenger train to Paris are starring in a Clint Eastwood movie about the attack. Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos from Sacramento, California, play themselves in the movie ?The 15:17 to Paris,? opening in U.S. movie theaters on Friday. After meeting the three men in their 20s at an awards show, Eastwood decided to make a film, but rather than casting actors, the Oscar-winning director called on the friends themselves. The trio were on a train from Amsterdam to Paris on a European vacation on Aug. 21, 2015 when a suspected Islamist militant opened fire on passengers.
