In 2003, Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks production company paid US$250,000 to Nasseri for the rights to his story, but ultimately did not use his story in the subsequent film, The Terminal. But by then, his mental and emotional state had become so intertwined with the airport that he was unable — or unwilling — to leave.
Psychologists who studied his case noted that he may have developed “institutionalization,” a condition seen in long-term prisoners who lose the ability to function outside their confined environments. Nasseri’s self-imposed captivity became, in a sense, his identity. His lawyer once said, “He was free to leave, but the airport had become his world — his safety, his prison, and his story.”
