In 1974, Philippe Petit broke into the World Trade Centre and walked a high-wire from one tower to the other. It's a very well-known story these days, thanks to James Marsh's popular documentary, Man on Wire, but I was still surprised to learn Robert Zemeckis was making it into a feature film. Surprised but pleased, especially when he cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the impish, ultra charismatic Petit. That film is now in the can and undergoing post production. To keep the hype coming, there's a new article in Vanity Fair about the shoot. A very green article - just look at these images from the set, and see how there's almost as little actual scenery or set dressing here as with one of the motion capture movies Zemeckis spent the last fifteen years pioneering. This is bordering on Sin City stuff. I'm sure the same won't be true of the more grounded sequences - it would be foolhardy to create a garden barbeque in CG, for example. There's a lot I don't like about IMAX but this film seems like a more than usually suitable choice for the format. Looking at a tiny Petit wobbling out on his wire above a huge vista of 1970s New York seems like it might induce the fear of heights that I've never really had. The Walk is set for UK and US release on October 2nd. I understand there's a second, longer trailer coming soon. In the meantime, here's the first teaser. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK1wH727ND0
Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.
