Looking at the plot summary on this one I wondered if it might have been inspired by this guy (although it would obviously have changed details around quite a bit- still the stories seem similar enough that I suspect the guy in France might have been an inspiration).
Anybody know or care to speculate?
(Hanks working with an accent- KILL ME NOW!)
IMDB’s own trivia page for the movie confirms it:
I was going to start a thread about this but I found this one. Does anyone have any idea why they don’t advertise that the movie is based on a true story (however loosely)? I’ve seen many advertisements for the movie and read all the official releases, they never make mention of its inspiration. That just seems weird.
To claim it was based on a true event would be admitting that Hollywood writers can’t come up with original ideas. :dubious:
I don’t know … if they are claiming that the new King Arthur is the “truth behind the legend” …
Just beaming with pride that I could start a Thread that would be resurrected five weeks later. 
Incidentally, when I wrote the OP I had not yet seen a trailer. When I did start to see the trailer, however, I could swear that they said “Inspired by a True Story”. Maybe aeropl and I saw different trailers.
This thread has some more information, including quotes from a New York Times Magazine article about Nasseri. Apparently he was paid for the rights to his life story.