EXCLUSIVE: Clint Eastwood has firmed the next film he will direct. He’ll helm a drama based on the book The 15:17 To Paris: The True Story Of A Terrorist, A Train, And Three American Heroes. The book was written by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Jeffrey E. Stern; the life rights of the heroes Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone are part of the package. Newcomer scribe Dorothy Blyskal wrote the script, and Eastwood will begin casting right away to start production later this year. Eastwood will produce with Tim Moore, Kristina Rivera and Jessica Meier.

This keeps Eastwood on the track of building crowd-pleasing movies out of true stories about ordinary men in extraordinary situations. That included Sully, the hit film about Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks), the heroic airline pilot who landed US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River after the engines were damages by birds right after takeoff. Before that, Eastwood directed the blockbuster American Sniper, about Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) and the toll his precise shooting in Iraq took on himself and his family.

Here, Eastwood makes room for a trio of heroes in Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone. In August 2015, an ISIS terrorist boarded train #9364 from Brussels to Paris. Armed with an AK-47 and enough ammo to kill more than 500 people, the terrorist might have succeeded except for three American friends who refused to give in to fear. Stone was a martial arts enthusiast and airman first class in the U.S. Air Force, Skarlatos was a member of the Oregon National Guard, and all three pals proved fearless as they charged and ultimately overpowered the gunman after he emerged from a bathroom armed and ready to kill. They most certainly averted a mass tragedy.