WTC Film Hero Too Good To Be True

After the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, 20 survivors were pulled from the wreckage.

Two of them, Port Authority Police Officer Will Jimeno and his sergeant, John McLoughlin, were trapped for 12 hours before they were rescued.

Oliver Stone's new movie, "World Trade Center," tells their stories.

Jimeno is played by Michael Pena. He co-stars with Nicholas Cage, who portrays McLoughlin.

On The Early Show Tuesday, Pena told co-anchor Hannah Storm that spending much of the film pinned and immobile was well worth it.

"Regardless what I went through, I was just trying to tell his (Jimeno's) story, and the fact that there was something — when I read the script, I didn't know if it was real or not. I didn't know if it had actually happened."

Pena says he wasn't sure whether Jimeno existed or was a composite character, "and then you meet him, and you're like, 'Absolutely! This guy is like a home-run hitter, an all-around good guy!' "

Jimeno insisted to Storm that he thinks "everybody's like me. I don't think I'm different than anybody else. I would hope everybody is a positive person. I'm a byproduct of my parents, who always told me to be a positive person and be good to people. So, I'd like to assume everybody is a good person and happy-go-lucky person."

Jimeno told Storm, "My sergeant and me, when they first approached us about the film, we were looking at them like, 'Why us?' We didn't really understand.

"It really took a meeting with (producer) Debra Hill, who really got the ball rolling on this project and, unfortunately, last year passed (away), and she's an angel looking down on us. She really showed us more than what me and my sergeant wanted to do, which is really to honor our teammates and the guys we consider our heroes for coming in to get us.

"But she saw the bigger picture, the strength of our wives and just humanity in general. After talking to her, we said we'd continue with this project and see where we go, and we just kept meeting more and more good people who had good intentions."
When Storm observed that some people might be surprised that Stone made such an uplifting film, Jimeno responded, "Oliver is a great storyteller. I think they chose the right director, who has the courage to stand up for what he believes in.

"What I've said to everybody is that Hollywood, Oliver and everybody involved checked their egos and genders at the door and, with their craft, their talent … did good not only for America, but for the world.

"This is a film I hope does well in August but, mark my words, 20, 30, 40 years from now, people will be talking about it and using it as a teaching tool for their children to show the light out of a dark day."

Jimeno and Pena actually went to Ground Zero together, and Pena says, "As soon as I stepped in there with him, it was a different experience because, it's like all the memories, all the people and all the news footage (came back to us). It was an amazing thing."

Jimeno says he thinks about 9/11 "every day, but I think about the positive things and the things that are gonna help me live a better life."

Like what?

"Well, just taking the time to enjoy your children. We all get caught up in our daily routine. When my daughter comes over and I'm busy doing something, she says, 'Daddy, I want to show you this dance in the next room,' and I'm caught up on watching something on TV, I can catch that on rerun. Those 10 seconds that little girl is gonna to show me something special — I'll never get that time back. It's those small things in life that we need to stop and say, 'Life is short.'

"I use this example: If you're lucky enough to live to 90, take 365 days, multiply it, and see how many days (you've had) … Most of those days are spent in infancy and childhood, and at the end, you revert to that, so that small period of time you have in between, you have to make it worthwhile, because 9/11 showed me. I was only 33, and I said to God, 'That wasn't long enough.'"

For his part, Pena says it was "an honor to do this movie, because it acknowledges the right people. It doesn't focus on any conspiracy or anything like that. What it is, is those people coming together on that particular day and, you know, rescuing a couple of guys."

It brought out the best in people?

"Exactly."