Is Tom Hank’s ‘The Terminal’ Based On a True Story?

Actor Tom Hanks has come a long way since his early days on the 1980s sitcom Bosom Buddies. He has starred in over 75 films, won two Academy Awards for Best Actor for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, and has received countless other awards, including the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. 

Among his many films, Hanks starred in Steven Spielberg’s 2004 comedy-drama The Terminal alongside Hollywood veterans Stanley Tucci and Catherine Zeta-Jones. While the film was somewhat obscure, many people couldn’t help but wonder if the storyline was based on a true story.

What was ‘The Terminal’ about

Hanks plays the role of Viktor Navorski, an Eastern European man who arrives at JFK Airport in New York City and is denied entry into the United States due to an invalid passport. He cannot return to his country of origin because of an unexpected military coup, finding himself stuck at the airport with nowhere to go.

Navorski has to spend nine months living in the airport as he waits for his country to become a legitimate state that can reauthorize his passport, allowing him to return home. During his stay, the character befriends many people working at the airport, inspiring them as he helps to turn their lives around.

Was ‘The Terminal’ based on a true story?

The Spielberg film was partially inspired by the real-life story of Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who spent 18 years stranded at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. The man claimed to have refugee status from Belgium, but when he arrived at the airport in 1988, he could not provide a passport or proof of his refugee status. He was detained at the airport and could not return to the United Kingdom, which he claimed was his home, or enter France, leaving him nowhere else to go but the airport.

According to Screen Rant, Nasseri was born in Iran and moved to the United Kingdom when he was 28 years old. There are several conflicting stories as to how he became a refugee. Some claim he was tortured by Savak, the Iranian Intelligence Agency, for taking part in a protest that was deemed to be anti-state activity. Others believe he got into trouble after attending a student strike in 1970 at Tehran University. There are also conflicting accounts of how he lost his passport and other documents. Some say Nasseri lost his briefcase while traveling, while others claim he mailed the papers to Belgium when traveling on a ferry to the United Kingdom. While the facts are unclear as to how Nasseri lost his documentation, it is clear he was detailed in Paris, forced to live at the airport’s departure lounge of Terminal 1 from 1988 to 2006.

 How the movie differs from the real-life story

Nasseri became somewhat of a local icon in Paris, going by the name Sir Alfred. While still living at the airport, Spielberg purchased the rights to his life story. Instead of going with a factual accounting, as the acclaimed director has done with many other iconic films such as Schindler’s List, he decided to create Navorski, a fictional character.

Several real-life facts differ from those told in the movie. For instance, the location of the actual airport in Paris was switched to JFK in New York for the film, and the supporting characters were all fictional to add dimension to the storyline. The Terminal also refers to the main character’s homeland as Krakozhia, a fictional country not based in Iran, where Nasseri reigned from. In the film, Hanks’ character returns to his country once the war ends, but Messeri never made it back to the United Kingdom.

In 2006, Nasseri finally left the airport and started living in homeless shelters in France. In 2022, he returned to the airport and, at the approximate age of 77, died after suffering a heart attack in Terminal 2F of the Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Where the film did align with real life was in the character’s love for fast food and his curiosity for exploring the airport. Many say that is how Sir Alfred spent his days, and Hanks did a fantastic job hilariously portraying that lifestyle.