John Kennedy with 'The 15:17 to Paris' teamKollam: John Kennedy could not have asked for more. The Kollam native who resides in Italy has been cast in Clint Eastwood’s latest action flick titled The 15:17 to Paris.
Kennedy, a coach with the Venice Cricket Club, will don a key role in the drama that tells the story of three U.S. Soldiers out to thwart a terror bid on a train to Paris.
Kennedy went to Italy after completing his higher secondary course to pursue a course in philosophy. Though Italy is known as football-crazy, a recent interest in cricket, particularly in schools, helped Kennedy to pursue his passion.
He attended a few courses by the Cricket Federation of Italy and played in league matches. He led his team to victory in 2007 as the opening batsman, wicket keeper and manager.
He later joined the Oliveri school as a cricket coach. He is a member of the Group Italian Technicians of Cricket.
He was serving as the manager of the Castle Cricket Club near Rome when he got a call from Eastwood.
The actor-director is about to start work on his 36th movie, which is based on a novel by Anthony Sadler, Alex Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Jeffrey E Stern.
Kennedy is not a greenhorn though. He has honed his acting skills with theater personality P J Unnikrishnan. He has acted in a Malayalam movie titled Raktharakshassu and a Sky series titled Mozart in the Jungle.
He is married to Natasha, who is running an ayurvedic massage center in Italy.
