Mehran Karimi Nasseri who inspired The Terminal
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian man who is believed to have inspired Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ film The Terminal, died on Saturday at the airport as said by the officials.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri lived for 18 years in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport. He died at the age of 80 years as reported by the officials.
The cause of his death
Mehran Karimi Nasseri died from a heart attack in the airport’s Terminal 2F around midday as said by the officials. A medical team and police tried to treat him but were unable to save him from ultimate death.
Mehran lived in the airport’s Terminal 1 from 1988 to 2006. He was in legal limbo initially because he lacked the papers of residency and had to stay at the airport.
But later he stayed at the airport by his own choice. In recent weeks he had been again living at the airport only.
His story that inspired the directors
His saga inspired The Terminal, a 2004 film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stanley Tucci.
The film changed the real-life event of the Iranian man into a story where an Eastern European man is stuck in New York’s JFK Airport when he was denied entry to the United States, and a military coup in his home country prevents the man from returning home. The film earned $219 million at the worldwide box office.
His actual story that forced him to live at airport
Though Nasseri’s story was more complicated when he was flying from Brussels to London via Paris and lost his refugee passport and was denied entry to France.
Thus, he had to take up residence in the transit area of Terminal 1 at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and stayed there till July 2006, after which he was hospitalized and on recovery transferred to the charity shelters.