[IMG:L]Confident and peppered with Gallic grace, a Frenchman pulled off the “artistic crime of the century” on August 7, 1974, walking across a self-engineered steel cable stretched between the Twin Towers, thousands of feet above the ground.
Meet Philippe Petit, subject of James Marsh‘s award-winning, pre-Oscar buzz documentary about a young, performance artist daredevil, who upped his craft, terrorizing and stupefying legions below, as he walked where no human had or has since, across what is now phantom space.
Part-heist, part-thriller James Marsh‘s (Wisconsin Death Trip) film transports us to a sacred place. The French gave us Lady Liberty; now renegade Petit gives us access to a phantom NYC wonder, long gone. In that, Petit‘s death-defying, ‘guerilla theater’ act is worth its weight in historical and spiritual gold.
Illegal, yes? Dangerous, of course. But as Petit insists, “it was a crime, but I didn’t kill anybody or steal anything.” On its 34th anniversary of the act, he shares with Hollywood.com, his twisted, gorgeous, real-life superhero tale of tightrope. [PAGEBREAK]
Hollywood.com: As a young man you started fantasizing about ‘walking between’ the twin towers, when you only saw blueprints, referring to them being built in the future. What was it like projecting a dream that didn’t exist yet?
Philippe Petit: At a very early age, probably at six years, I was already inhabited by theater and creating, and being alone and having visions. I learned magic by myself at age six and then juggling at age 14, I then started learning high-wire at age 17. A year later I was then of course thinking where can I put in my wire, of course without permission [laughs], because nobody was interested in me as an artist.
HW: Ah ha… youth.
PP: That’s when the towers called me from a small article in a newspaper. There was a picture of a model in the paper and the article read, “One day the towers will be built.” I thought, “What a great place to create a live theater.”
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Hollywood.com: Fear is what comes to me, but can you tell me one has to battle–better yet, what goes through your mind when walking across the tightrope? Take us along with you.
Philippe Petit: The feelings that I have on high wire are never the same–they vary with the different performances. There are two different kinds of performances of course…the illegal one…and the kind you are hired for…and in those two categories I would feel different … In general, my way of feeling on a wire is like that of an actor, but not [when] at the World Trade Center since that was improvised; but very often I have a specific performance with lights and music and props. On the other hand, I design the wire myself and I know the system very well and I am on the look out for threats. And then I am the person who I am, the artist who loves to be the person performing in mid-air and everything is simple and calm and not dangerous at all. I give myself completely, well not completely, well one part of myself completely to the elation and the joy of the marvel of walking in mid-air.
HW: And the raw feelings?
PP: I of course I am very within my extreme focus and concentration and I am able to hear, to listen, to smell, to touch—I am very aware of what’s happening around me, what’s happening on the ground, in the crowd, of course I will hear the people’s response to my performance. I will hear their applause. If I am doing something illegal of course I will hear the cops on both sides, the sirens. Of course, there is a daydreaming and kind of romanticizing and I may hear music that does not exist or remember certain things that I like.
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Hollywood.com: On the topic of vision–what was it like working with (accomplished yet alternative) documentarian James Marsh?
Philippe Petit: He is very dedicated and very passionate and very sensitive about his work. He had a vision that he imposed during the making of the film.
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Hollywood.com: How did you hear about the towers falling and what did you feel?
Philippe Petit: I do not own a television and I was called by neighbors and they said, “Your towers are being destroyed.” So I ran to their place to watch tv and the first sentiment was of disbelief.
HW: Were you able to read about it?
PP: Oh, yes, yes, absolutely.
HW: Have you been to the site? And what did you feel?
PP: I had feelings of shock and horror.
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Hollywood.com: You’ve been asked why you did what you did and I’ve read that you say, there is no ‘why’. Do you still feel that way?
Philippe Petit: I am not interested to stop my life and ask myself, ‘who I am and why I do what I do?’ I think it’s actually a very dangerous game to do that, and I think that you should blindly follow your destiny and your passion. Many artists, if you ask them, “Why do you paint?” and they will say, “I have no choice. I have no control of my painting.” I don’t care to know. I never question myself and I am busy creating versus busy investigating why I do it. It’s who I am!
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Hollywood.com: At the time, and even today, this event was referred to as the “artistic crime of the century”–how do you respond to that tag?
Philippe Petit: [Hahaha] I mean, it’s a compliment, I love it. I think actually it’s a very good description of it–it was a crime but I didn’t kill anybody or steal anything. Actually, I offered something beautiful. So, it is an artistic crime and nothing of such happened before or after for a long, long time. I don’t know how the title came, but now everyone is saying it–and I think it’s true and it’s great.
