The highwire daredevil 'The Walk' is based on loves the movie — except for one part
(Sony)
Warning: Spoilers ahead
In the summer of 1974 French highwire artist Philippe Petit gained notoriety when he walked on a wire between the Twin Towers in New York City.
The remarkable feat has been adapted into a children’s book, an Oscar-winning documentary and now a 3D Hollywood blockbuster.
“The Walk” looks back on Petit’s “coup,” as he called it, to get to the roof of the towers illegally to do his highwire act. It involved years of planning with a group of others and training, also dressing up as construction workers with fake identification cards so they could get into the building.
But Petit did point out to Business Insider a little movie magic that “The Walk” director Robert Zemeckis threw in there to build the drama.
“There are a few things that didn’t happen and are going against the spirit of who I am,” said Petit.
The specific moment he points out is towards the end of Petit’s (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) walk on the wire between the towers where he briefly loses his balance and the wire begins to shake as he’s about to give himself up to police.
(Robin Marchant/Getty)
Philippe Petit.
“That did not happen. That could not happen,” Petit told Business Insider. “It’s what we call Hollywood. I’m not going to make a big thing, because that and other little details are things no one will pick up on except for me. It’s not exactly my adventure. I see it as a creative freedom from the point of view of the storyteller. It doesn’t bother me.”
Petit has been a huge supporter of the film, appearing on the red carpet when it premiered at the New York Film Festival and even training Gordon-Levitt how to walk the wire.
“The story tells the tale with the right spirit,” said Petit.
“The Walk” opens in theaters nationwide on Friday.
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