A dramatic recreation of the events depicted in the film Man On Wire above.
And, as Philippe Petit himself notes, the first question that everyone always asked him was this: “Why?”
Why would someone literally risk so much in order to accomplish something that in the larger scheme of things doesn’t really amount to a hill of beans? And, in fact, could quite easily result in his death.
For example: youtu.be/q0VNsgyVe7E
So, if, like me, you have mixed feelings regarding “accomplishments” of this sort, then we are probably not alone.
There just seem to be those among us who, having experienced the exhilaration of an adrenaline rush this intense, are going to keep pushing the envelope in order to recreate it again and again and again.
In other words, this is one of those very, very rare human beings: One who lives [and who loves] his life almost entirely on his own terms. Really, how many of us can ever say that? On this level?
Just think of it all [as he himself did] as a “work of art”.
And, as with Man On Wire, this film is superb in laying out just how incredibly complex it was just setting up the rigging that would be needed to pull off the walk. The mind-boggling logistics! The endless close-calls!
Imagine trying to pull it off post-9/11.
And even though you know that the event had already been accomplished, it is still nerve-wracking to watch him out on that wire. Knowing, for example, that never in a million years would you ever attempt something like it yourself.
And then there is this question: How was it filmed given that the Twin Towers are no longer around? With computer special effects no doubt. Also: how much of what we see up on the screen did Joseph Gordon-Levitt actually perform “for real”. For example: balanced with one foot on a rope while juggling lit torches?
IMDb
[b]Philippe Petit himself personally trained Joseph Gordon-Levitt how to walk on a tightrope. When the training started, Petit predicted that Gordon-Levitt would need no more than 8 days of training to be able to walk on a wire alone, which came true.
During the film’s New York City premiere the realism of the film’s climax caused some viewers to actually throw up from vertigo, at least one reviewer claimed that. Director Robert Zemeckis responded, he didn’t believe that report, but “[the goal] was to evoke the feeling of vertigo. We worked really hard to put the audience up on those towers and on the wire.”
To help get an idea of the distance and height of the climatic wire walk, Joseph Gordon-Levitt went to the World Trade Center memorial, where there are two pools representing where the towers originally stood, and walked the distance between them. He also recounted his own experience when he visited the observation deck on top of one of the towers in the summer of 2001, saying of the sensation of being at such a height, “It felt more like being in the sky than being on a tall building.” [/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walk_(2015_film
trailer: youtu.be/eKSeSX-dzso
THE WALK [2015]
Written in part and directed by Robert Zemeckis
[b]Philippe: “Why?” That is the question people ask me most. Pourquoi? Why? For what? Why do you walk on the wire? Why do you tempt fate? Why do you risk death. But, I don’t think of it this way. I never even say this word, death. La mort. Yes of okay, I said it once, or maybe three times, just now… But watch, I will not say it again. Instead, I use the opposite word. Life. For me, to walk on the wire, this is life. C’est la vie.
…
Philippe [now standing in the torch of the Statue of Liberty]: So, picture with me it’s 1974, New York city, and I am in love with two buildings - two towers. Or as everyone in the world will calls them, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. They call to me. These towers, they stir something inside of me, and they inspire in me a dream. My dream is to hang a high-wire between those twin towers, and walk on it! Of course, uh, this is impossible, not to mention, illegal. So, why attempt the impossible? Why follow your dream? But, I cannot answer this question why, not with words. But I can show you how I happened. And so, we must go back in time, and across the ocean, because my love affair with these beautiful towers did not begin in New York. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not from here. No, my story begins in another one of the world’s most beautiful cities, se Paris.
…
Philippe [voiceover]: Here I am, a self-proclaimed wire walker that nobody on earth cares about, surviving as a troubadour performing in the streets. I’ve created a character. I have a top hat. I wear only black. I teach myself to draw a perfect circle on the ground, and within this circle, I never speak, not one word. The circle is my domain, and I don’t allow even half of a toe inside of it. And if the spectators continue to violate my sacred space, well, I must employ more drastic measures. I perform for anyone who will watch me, and people love it. Man, woman, young, old, everyone. Except, of course, the police. I don’t believe in getting permits.
…
Philippe [voiceover at the dentist office]: Suddenly, I freeze. The pain in my tooth is gone. In the magazine, there’s an article with an illustration about the towers. They’re not even finished yet, but the magazine says that once they are, they will be the tallest in the world.
[he draws a line between the towers]
Philippe: And with this tiny pencil stroke, my fate was sealed.
…
[b]Papa Rudy: The performer must have an honest respect and gratitude for the audience.
Philippe: But why should I respect the audience? It is me on the wire.
Papa Rudy: You will salute the audience and pay respect! There is no show without an audience! Unless you understand that, you will never perform in circus.
Philippe: Good, okay, me, I don’t want to perform in the circus. I am not some ridiculous circus clown. I am an artist!
[Papa Rudy throws him out]
Philippe [voiceover]: So, just like that, Papa Rudy threw my artistic little ass out into the street.
…
Philippe: It will be the most glorious high wire walk in history.
Annie: And how high must this wire be to make so much glory?
Philippe: Over 100 stories high.
Annie: Where do trees like this grow?
Philippe: These are not trees.
…
Philippe: I need you to teach me how to rig a high wire.
Papa Rudy: High wire for what? You’re a street juggler.
Philippe: But I need to know how to tie the correct knots. I need to know what kind of cable to use, the weight, the thickness, the load strength.
Papa Rudy: So, you want me to just give you my secrets. Secrets I’ve spent a lifetime learning. Secrets I’ve only given to my sons. You want me to just hand them over to you.
Philippe: I can pay you. I have money. I don’t care what it costs.
Papa Rudy: Meet me at le cirque at sunrise. Bring your juggling money.
…
Papa Rudy: Most wire walkers, they die when they arrive. They think they have arrived… But they are still on the wire. If you have three steps to do, and if you do those steps arrogantly…if you think you are invincible…You are going to die!
[Philippe reaches into his pocket for money to pay Papa Rudy]
Papa Rudy [stopping him]: This one, I give to you for free.
…
Philippe [voiceover]: Now, walking on the wire is as much mental as it is physical. If you lose your concentration, you lose your balance.
[he falls off the wire into the lake]
Annie: Philippe!
Philippe: So here I am, in the mud to my knees doing the Papa Rudy compliment. This was my first public performance. A failure.
…
Philippe [voiceover while crossing the towers of the Nortre-Dame Cathedral]: And when the first tourist start to arrive in the morning, I begin. And I succeed. I perform my first surprise, illegal high wire walk. This is also the first time I get the taste of this sensation. This feeling that I’m crossing into a…a truly different world. And I was redeemed.[/b]
And also arrested.
[b]Philippe [on the edge of a beam atop a World Trade Tower]: I find myself standing on an island floating in mid-air, on the edge of the void. Of course, I automatically look across to the opposite tower. But then I have to dare to look down. Now, I think I know the void. I’m a wire walker. The void is my domain, yes? Well, not this void. But, still I gather the courage to whisper. I whisper so the demons won’t hear me. It’s impossible. But I’ll do it.
…
Papa Rudy: Here’s what you’re going to do, Philippe. You’re going to wear a safety belt underneath your costume, attached to a safety line, connected to a carabiner.
Philippe: A safety line? A carabiner? I’m not going to do this walk with a safety line hanging off of me!
Papa Rudy: From that height, it will be invisible! No one will have any idea!
Philippe: And what do I do when I get to the first cavaletti?
Papa Rudy: You’re a performer. You kneel down on the wire. You unhook from side, clip it on the other. The audience will think you are saluting.
Philippe: This I will not do! This I will never do!
Papa Rudy: So why’d you come here? Because you know so much? You tell me I’m wrong?
Philippe: No. Because I need you to tell me how to rig this wire! Not do a phony walk like a coward!
…
Papa Rudy: This isn’t a game, Philippe. One mistake out there and you’re going to die.
…
Philippe: Polypropylene ropes, hemp ropes, small block-and-tackle with three sheaves, large block-and-tackle with single sheaf, uh, slings, steel wire, quarter-inch cable, pulley blocks, construction gloves, monkey wrenches, tape measure. And a balancing pole in four sections.
Customs official: And, uh, what’s all this for?
Philippe: I’m going to hang a high wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center and walk on it.
Custums official: Hmmph. Good luck!
…
Philippe [voiceover]: I rode all the elevators. The local, the express, the express to the upper sky lobby, the express to the lower sky lobby. I took hundreds of rides. I spied on the maintenance men, the loading docks. I watched the freight trucks as they made their deliveries. What time do they arrive? How long do they stay? How much paperwork is exchanged. My greatest disguise was that of an architect. I wore a tie and carried a blueprint, and I tried to look important. And this gave me access to everything under construction.[/b]
Then he steps on the nail.
[b]Barry: Well, it’s certainly illegal, that’s for sure. And extremely subversive, not to mention dangerous. This is something only a twisted, antisocial, anarchistic, pissed-off malcontent would have anything to do with!
[he reaches out to grab Philippe’s hand]
Barry: You have your inside man!
…
Philippe: I forgot to nail shut the coffin.
Annie: Stop calling it that!
Philippe: A coffin is what this may be.
Annie: That’s not funny. What’s wrong with you? Do you have a death wish or something?
Philippe: Don’t say this word! I never say this word.
Annie: Come on! Death, coffin, die. it’s all the same thing.
Philippe: Why are you doing this? Why are you suddenly against me?
Annie: Against you? No one is more supportive.
Philippe: Then why do you say this word? Why do you put this thought in my head on the night before my most dangerous walk? Why are you so uncaring?
Annie: Uncaring? You’re the most selfish, arrogant…
Philippe: Yes, I’m arrogant! I have to be. To walk on the wire, to command the wire!
…
Albert: Philippe, this is crazy. We’re never going to finish at this rate.
Philippe" Yes, we will. We will finish.
Albert: No, we’re not! We’re not! We’re all gonna get caught and go to jail. And I don’t want to go to jail. And the rigging isn’t safe. I’m not gonna watch you fall. I’m leaving, okay. I quit.
Philippe: Okay, Albert, listen to me. Yes, I agree with you, okay? And if the rigging is not done by daylight and if the rigging is not safe, then I’ll give up.
…
Philippe [voiceover]: And that was the moment in my adventure I call, “The Mysterious Visitor.” I have no idea who he is. I’ve never seen him again. And I can only imagine what he must have thought.[/b]
Weird doesn’t even begin to describe it.
[b]Philippe [just before beginning his walk]: I lost my costume! It’s a tragedy! The biggest page of my life and I lose my costume! It falls off the edge! I have no costume!
Jeff: What should we do?
Philippe: We do it. We do it anyway. I walk in this ridiculous undershirt, but we do it.
…
Philippe [voiceover]: I have one foot on the building and one foot on the wire. And the outside world starts to disappear. Jeff no longer existed. My tower was deserted. I no longer heard the sounds of New York. Everything fell silent. All I could see was the wire, floating out in a straight line to infinity.
…
Philippe [voiceover]: As soon as my entire weight is on the cable, I feel immediately a feeling I know by heart. I feel the wire supporting me. I feel the towers supporting the wire.
…
Philippe [voiceover]: I approach the first cavaletti, and it’s upside down. But I look closer and it seems okay. Thank you, Papa Rudy, for suggesting the three bolts.
…
Philippe [voiceover]: I arrive at the North Tower feeling the most intense joy, the most profound satisfaction I’ve ever felt in my life.
…
Philippe [voiceover]: I had finished my crossing, the coup was over. But then I looked over at the South Tower and it was still calling to me. So I’m thinking, maybe I should get back on my wire.
…
Philippe [voiceover on his way back to the South Tower]: And then I feel something that maybe I’ve never truly felt before. I feel thankful. So, I get down on one knee and I salute. First, I salute the wire, then the towers, and then I salute the great city of New York.[/b]
Then he sees the two cops. Back to the North Tower.
Philippe [voiceover]: By now, I’m becoming aware of the people on the ground below, watching me. My audience. And even though this is something a wire walker should never do, I look down. And it was…It was peaceful. It was calm and serene. Not dangerous.
What he does next is, well, mind-boggling.
Albert [looking up at the towers]: Look at that. I mean, we did it, Philippe. We showed the world that anything’s possible. They’re different. Hey, Philippe, they’re different now. They’re different because you walked up there.
Barry: You know every New Yorker I talk to now says they love these towers?
Well, not everyone, right?
Philippe[voiceover]: You remember Guy Tozzoli from the press conference, one of the men behind the creation of towers, he loved the walk, and he gave me a pass to the observation deck, so I could go any time I wanted. And I went there many times, alone. I would find myself there looking at the void, to see how the thought comes back. How the feeling returns. Because it was a beautiful day. And you know this pass I was given?
[holding up the card]
Philippe Well, these passes they have a date on them. A date when they expire. But on my pass, Mr. Tozzoli, he crossed out the date and he wrote on it: FOREVER.