INSPIRATION BEHIND TERMINAL MOVIE DIES
Mehran Karimi Nasseri made headlines when he was found living in Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport in 1998.
The Iranian was born in 1945 in the province of Khuzestan. He flew to Belgium in search of his mother. After being expelled from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany for not having the correct papers, he eventually ended up in France.
Nasseri ended up living in the French airport’s 2F Terminal.
Nestled on his bench surrounded by trolleys containing the possessions he had accumulated, he spent his days writing about his life in a notebook and reading books and newspaper, reports the BBC.
When his situation caught the world media’s attention, it also caught they eye of Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg based his movie, The Terminal, loosely on Nasseri.
The movie starred Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones and was a popular hit at the box office.
Nasseri enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame after the release of the movie. It’s believed that he was giving up to six interviews a day to reporters.
Nasseri was eventually given the right to live in France, but after entering the country he ended up returning to the airport a few weeks ago. According to an airport official, he died of natural causes.
Image credit: The Daily Beast