Armenian-American Who Helped Stop French Train Attack Stars as Himself in New Clint Eastwood Film

LOS ANGELES—Armenian-American professor Mark Moogalian, the first passenger to tackle a gunman during a terrorist attack on a high-speed train traveling to Paris from Amsterdam in 2015, will play himself in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming film “The 15:17 to Paris.”

Mark Moogalian (Photo: The Telegraph)

According to sources, the film also stars Moogalian’s wife, Isabelle Risacher Moogalian, who was also on board that day.

During the high-speed train ride on Aug. 21, 2015, Moogalian tackled gunman El-Khazzani, who was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle. It was reported that Moogalian instinctively acted to protect his wife Isabella and managed to take the assault rifle away from El-Khazzani. The assailant managed to then draw another gun and shoot Moogalian in the neck.

Moogalian, who is from Midlothian, Va. and teaches English at Paris-Sorbonne University, was quickly rushed to a hospital where he was rehabilitated and eventually made a full recovery from his injuries.

In Sept. 2015, less than a month after the incident, Moogalian was awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest honor for bravery, by then French President Francois Hollande at the Élysée Palace.

Written by Dorothy Blyskal, “The 15:17 to Paris” is based on the autobiography The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Soldiers by Jeffrey E. Stern, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos. Stone, Sadler, and Skarlatos—the American passengers who helped stop the attack by tackling the attacker—also star in the film as themselves.

The film is scheduled to be released on Feb. 9 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

26 Comments

  1. Armenian-American Who Helped Stop French Train Attack Stars as Himself in New Clint Eastwood Film

    By Weekly Staff on February 2, 2018 in News // 3 Comments //  // 

    Tweet

    LOS ANGELES—Armenian-American professor Mark Moogalian, the first passenger to tackle a gunman during a terrorist attack on a high-speed train traveling to Paris from Amsterdam in 2015, will play himself in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming film “The 15:17 to Paris.”

    Mark Moogalian (Photo: The Telegraph)

    According to sources, the film also stars Moogalian’s wife, Isabelle Risacher Moogalian, who was also on board that day.

    During the high-speed train ride on Aug. 21, 2015, Moogalian tackled gunman El-Khazzani, who was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle. It was reported that Moogalian instinctively acted to protect his wife Isabella and managed to take the assault rifle away from El-Khazzani. The assailant managed to then draw another gun and shoot Moogalian in the neck.

    Moogalian, who is from Midlothian, Va. and teaches English at Paris-Sorbonne University, was quickly rushed to a hospital where he was rehabilitated and eventually made a full recovery from his injuries.

    In Sept. 2015, less than a month after the incident, Moogalian was awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest honor for bravery, by then French President Francois Hollande at the Élysée Palace.

    Written by Dorothy Blyskal, “The 15:17 to Paris” is based on the autobiography The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Soldiers by Jeffrey E. Stern, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos. Stone, Sadler, and Skarlatos—the American passengers who helped stop the attack by tackling the attacker—also star in the film as themselves.

    The film is scheduled to be released on Feb. 9 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

    Tweet

    4 Comments on Armenian-American Who Helped Stop French Train Attack Stars as Himself in New Clint Eastwood Film

    Catherine Yesayan // February 2, 2018 at 4:34 pm // Reply

    A delightful news…

    jerry // February 2, 2018 at 7:26 pm // Reply

    He is an immigrant, trump. Picture that!

    Dorian // February 3, 2018 at 4:31 am // Reply

    Yea wow.

    Varouj // February 3, 2018 at 12:14 pm // Reply

    Your comment is awaiting moderation.
    ARMENIANS would have never immigrated or became refugees had there been no Armenian Genocide..but only traveled to commerce

  2. “He is an immigrant, trump. Picture that!” What a stupid statement. A LEGAL immigrant, a teacher, and a hero. Yet you somehow think you can use that to throw insults atthe US president….

  3. Mark Moogalian is American born and holds dual citizenship of the U.S.A and France.
    What has his heroism and the three American soldiers anything to do with immigration or Trump?
    What a silly comment that ” He is an immigrant ,trump”.
    Vart Adjemian

  4. This is pure heroism. Not predicted ….spontaneous
    An act of unselfish valor. Incredible instincts. God bless
    them.

  5. Two of the four men who took action against the Islamist murderer were from ethnic groups that suffered centuries of oppression culminating by in Genocide. This may have assisted them to see the danger more clearly and to act decisively.

  6. Why they don’t mention about his ethnic origin being Armenian? I suppose, if it was a different nationality, they would have mentioned it. We are so proud of him and, for sure, I will see this film.

    • I watched the movie yesterday. Totally shocked: the name Marc Moogalian is completely *omitted* and does not even feature
      in the credits. It is a double whammy abhoration:
      1. the name Moogalian was not even mentioned, not once in the entire movie. So he was Not given any credit at all!
      2. then after the movie was over, I figured ok maybe now we will see an acknowledgment of Marc Moogalian along with the other three boys.
      Nope. ! NOTHING.
      It is as if he doesn’t exist. WHY WAS THE NAME MARC MOOGALIAN
      LEFT OUT COMPLETELY ?!?
      I wonder how Marc feels about that ??
      It is incredible.
      Maybe the omission of the name Marc Moogalian has to do with the fact that the producers of the movie are: Berman and Bernstein.
      Think.

  7. @lan Garapet. Yea.. nowadays we praise armenia and neonationalism however nobody deep down cares. We eat our kebab and marry w h i t e w o m e n

  8. Oh no.
    I am saddened by the level of conversation on this thread.

    And why defend Trump? He is not helping the image of the U.S. at all.
    Let’s leave him out of it.
    I live in Canada and am very grateful that I do!

  9. I’ve only read reviews of this film that criticize its tedious (and often boring) over emphasis on the 3 marine friends upbringing in the US.
    I hope it also included Mark’s background as a scholar and a hero.
    The last portion of the film (the actual terrorist event) was described as intense and riveting as would be expected from a talented and experienced director as Mr Eastwood.
    Thank you, Mark, for helping save the lives of hundreds of innocent people on that train.
    We are all so proud of you.

  10. has anyone else noticed a purposeful attempt by the Zionist media to ignore this man and claim “3 american soldiers” foiled this attack. Our enemies run deep my dear Armenians. It seems our colluding enemies continue anti Armenian campaign till this day since they concocted the Armenian Genocide for THEFT OF WEALTH….WAKE UP ARMENIANS..

    • I just watched the movie last night.
      Marc Moogalian name is completely omitted throughout
      the entire movie, AND omitted from the credits !!!
      I don’t know that was even possible to OMIT his name.
      Producers Berman and Bernstein did not include this hero’s name anywhere.
      Shocked.
      I wonder if he ADRESSED THIS ISSUE ???

  11. Why wasn’t Mark acknowledged in the movie as a hero? The only real flaw of the movie. I was very disappointed his name and initial effort was not mentioned in the movie. He is equally a hero!!!!! I hope he is being acknowledged today as such.

  12. Though I respect and admire Clint Eastwood, I was disappointed in many aspects of this movie. One aspect was how the AK-47 was taken out of the terrorist’s hand. I replayed the fight several times, and it was not clear to me until now what Marc had done. He initiated the fight. That should have been filmed. That was a missing scene. That missing scene would have opened the door to a subplot of Marc and his wife in France which would have dimensionalized the movie which was a bit boring because it was only about the soldiers because that was the focus of the book. Besides that, if you are going to have real life people play themselves, one has to admit that Marc is a good looking guy and the camera likes his face. Bottomline, he is photogenic and that is not a bad thing in a film. His backstory in Paris would have given the film an added perspective but the writer only wanted to focus on the book. The original vision was flawed, leading to the flaws about casting and story.

    The omission of Marc Moogalian is probably more about the movie wanting to be a film version of the book by the soldiers rather than a conspiracy not to recognize someone of Armenian descent.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*