Tom Hanks has played many memorable roles over the years that has been etched into our hearts. One of his most underrated films that's loosely based on reality is the 2004 comedy-drama The Terminal. It is lightly based on a real life Iranian man, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who had been living in the Paris airport terminal for 18 years. Unfortunately, it's been reported that Nasseri has now died.
According to reports, Nasseri suffered a heart attack on November 12 and passed away in the Charles de Gaulle Airport, which he called home for nearly two decades. Nasseri resided in Terminal 1 of the airport from 1988 to 2006 out of legal need. Even after receiving his immigration papers, he resided in a Paris shelter before returning to the airport as he refused to sign them. The man eventually became a local celebrity and was quick to meet with and shake the hands of travelers making their way through the terminal. During an interview with the outlet in 1999, the man said he planned to leave the the location at some point.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri was born in 1945 in Soleiman, a part of Iran, then under British jurisdiction. He left Iran to further his studies but, upon returning to his home country, he discovered he was arrested for participating in a protest against the shah and was expelled without a passport. Nasseri’s life after that was wrapped up in unbelievable bureaucracy and red tape until he found himself living in the Paris airport terminal. He was arrested by French police at one point but could not be deported because he did not have the proper legal documentation.
Though The Terminal is loosely based on Nasseri, the only similarity between Hanks’ portrayal of Viktor Navorski and the real-life man is the fact that they both lived in an airport terminal. While the filmmakers paid Nasseri for his story, he was not involved, credited, and nor does he appear in the motion picture.
