Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of Philippe Petit’s incredible (and illegal) wire walk between the Twin Towers, high above the streets of Manhattan. It’s a feat that will never be duplicated, and has been documented in the documentary Man on Wire, as well as in Petit’s own memoir, To Reach the Clouds.
Now, Robert Zemeckis is poised to bring us a dramatized version of the event with The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit. The film just wrapped principal photography, and while it’s still more than a year away from release, the first official photos have surfaced. You can check them out below, followed by a press release. The Walk is scheduled to hit theaters in October 2015.
TRISTAR ANNOUNCES TITLE AND WRAP OF PRODUCTION FOR
“THE WALK”
3D / IMAX 3D CAPER FILM
DIRECTED BY ROBERT ZEMECKIS
STARRING JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT
BASED ON PHILIPPE PETIT’S BOOK “TO REACH THE CLOUDS”
MONTRÉAL, Canada, August 6, 2014 – Principal photography has wrapped on the inaugural film from Tom Rothman’s TriStar Productions, now officially titled The Walk. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film is a true story based on Philippe Petit’s book “To Reach the Clouds,” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the young dreamer who dared the impossible: an illegal wire walk between the World Trade Center towers. Zemeckis wrote the screenplay with Christopher Browne. Producers are Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis, and Jack Rapke. The film will be released on October 2, 2015.
Tomorrow, August 7, is the 40th anniversary of the astounding event, now being brought back to vivid life in the third act climax of the film.
Twelve people have walked on the moon, but only one man has ever, or will ever, walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers. Guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), and aided by an unlikely band of international recruits, Petit and his gang overcome long odds, betrayals, dissension and countless close calls to conceive and execute their mad plan. Robert Zemeckis, the director of such marvels as Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Back to the Future, Polar Express, and Flight, again uses cutting edge technology in the service of an emotional, character- driven story. With innovative photorealistic techniques and IMAX 3D wizardry, The Walk is true big-screen cinema, a chance for moviegoers to viscerally experience the feeling of reaching the clouds. The film is a love letter to Paris and New York City in the 1970s, but most of all, to the Towers of the World Trade Center.
Also starring in the film are James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz, Charlotte Le Bon, Clément Sibony and César Domboy.
joseph gordon levitt robert zemeckis the walk