Philippe Petit
Philippe Petit
Philippe Petitis a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, on the morning of August 7, 1974. For his unauthorized feat1,350 feetabove the ground, he rigged a 450-poundcable and used a custom-made 26-footlong, 55-poundbalancing pole. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire. The following week, he celebrated his 25th birthday. All charges were dismissed in exchange for him doing a...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPerformance Artist
Date of Birth13 August 1949
CityNemours, France
CountryFrance
On the high wire, within months, I'm able to master all the tricks they do in the circus, except I am not satisfied.
I was born in a world of opera, theatre, films, poetry, art, and therefore, out of the wire, I made a stage. That's why they call me a high wire artist.
If I had been born in the circus, my parents would have pushed me on that little high wire at four years old. That's when the body is most limber to learn those acrobatics.
It is treacherous on a high wire to change your focus point and suddenly look down.
It's very normal - when you're not used to the world of the high wire, it's very normal to be simply terrified. The reason I'm not is because I've done it for so many years.
I have been performing in the street for more than 50 years: magic for basically 60 years, and the high wire 45 years. The beauty of it is that it's never the same. It's never easy. And yet, part of my art is to make it look easy.
I rendezvous with the long wire and perform the 'torero walk', gliding my feet, holding the pole away from my body, head high.
Wire-walking in performance is one thing - I never fell, of course. If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it.
My time is always divided when I prepare for a wire walk. First I dream, technically and artistically, and then I go to work, and I am the master rigger, climbing trees and ladders and constructing. Only then I change my cap and become the performer.
My parents wanted me to have an honorable profession and not to be a jester.
I was thrown out of different schools because I was practicing my arts - magic, juggling, and the high wire.
Truly, from a very early age, I started distancing myself from other kids, not out of willingness, but just out of the nature of my energy. I liked to do things solely, and I already had a taste of the quest for perfection, which is unusual in a little kid.
What I think tailors the creativity of most people are the rules that we learn from the age we are very small - in school, our parents.
When art in general, and film in particular, succeeds is when it pulls you away onto a voyage. Then it's a good film.