He felt, "Alone and absolutely free", as author Mordecai Gerstein writes. He says he has never fallen during a performance. Francis Brunn, a German juggler, provided financial support for the proposed project and its planning.[7]. But I thought, "What is the big deal here? He told a reporter, Within one year, I taught myself to do all the things you could do on a wire. [4] Dancing was the primary medium, and the production also used puppetry, especially during the wirewalking sequence. [2] Jean-François and Jean-Louis helped him practice in a field in France, and accompanied him to take part in the final rigging of the project, as well as to photograph it. "If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it."[13]. Truly affecting." "Heartland Film Festival Concludes Another Record Breaking Year". It looks almost ugly." Unlike Danny Ocean’s heist crew, Petit told a reporter that he did not expect to profit from the performance — although the Times noted that “two men who said they were friends of Mr. Petit’s did make the rounds of news offices shortly after the event, offering to sell exclusive photos taken from the tower roof.”, Read more about the building of the Twin Towers and the Sears Tower, from 1973: The Tallest Skyscraper. The Port Authority allowed Petit to conduct the interviews, which he used as a pretext to make more observations. [14] He wrote his eighth book, A Square Peg. In 1989, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, mayor Jacques Chirac invited him to walk an inclined wire strung from the ground at the Place du Trocadéro to the second level of the Eiffel Tower, crossing the Seine. Philippe Petit (French pronunciation: [filip pəti]; born 13 August 1949) is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, 1971, Sydney harbour bridge as well as his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, on the morning of 7 August 1974. He defied death, and the police, for more than 45 minutes while he did “knee bends and other stunts,” per the Times. In 1973, he walked a wire rigged between the two north pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, in Sydney. [6], In planning for the Twin Towers walk, Petit had to learn how to accommodate issues such as the swaying of the high towers due to wind, which was part of their design; effects of wind and weather on the wire at that height, how to rig a 200 ft (61 m) steel cable across the 138 ft (42 m) gap between the towers (at a height of 1,368 ft (417 m)), and how to gain entry with his collaborators, first to scope out the conditions and lastly, to stage the project. [3], In June 1971, Petit secretly installed a cable between the two towers of Notre Dame de Paris. Petit's most famous performance was in August 1974, conducted on a wire between the roofs of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, a quarter-mile above the ground. So I started to discard those tricks and to reinvent my art. [15] Petit not only wrote about his feat, and events that led to the performance, but also expressed his feelings following the September 11 attacks, during which the Twin Towers were destroyed. Synopsis. Together, we will rejoice in an aerial song of victory." They first shot across a fishing line, which was attached to larger ropes, and finally to the 450-pound steel cable. During this period, he learned everything he could about the buildings and their construction. "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers". He observed what time the workers arrived and left, so he could determine when he would have roof access. It combines historical footage with re-enactment and has the spirit of a heist film. Petit divides his time between New York City, where he is an artist in residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, and a hideaway in the Catskill Mountains.