Clint Eastwood made news when it was announced earlier this year that the film legend would direct a movie about how Oregon's Alek Skarlatos and two friends helped stop a terrorist attack on a train bound for Paris.

Today brings even bigger news: Skarlatos will star in the movie, playing himself, alongside his friends, Anthony Sadler and Spencer Stone, who will also play themselves.

The film, "The 15:17 to Paris," is based on "The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train and Three American Heroes," the nonfiction book about the incident, written by Skarlatos, Stone and Sadler, with Jeffrey E. Stern.

Variety reports that Dorothy Blyskal will write the script for the movie, which is the first film project Eastwood has taken on following the success of "Sully," another movie based on an act of real-life heroism.

Skarlatos, who graduated from Roseburg High School, was an Oregon Army National Guard specialist when he and his childhood friends, U.S. Airman First Class Stone and Sacramento State University student Sadler, became international heroes.

The three friends were passengers on a train headed to Paris when they helped overpower a 26-year-old Moroccan man who was armed with an AK-47, a pistol, a box cutter and heavy ammunition.

The friends' heroism in stopping the man before he could kill hundreds of passengers on the train made Skalatos, Sadler and Stone famous around the world. They were awarded the French Legion of Honor, and President Barack Obama invited the three to the White House, where they were presented with medals.

Though appearing in a movie is new, Skarlatos has been on camera before. He competed on "Dancing With the Stars" in 2015, finishing in third place.

-- Kristi Turnquist



kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist