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
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.
I rendezvous with the long wire and perform the 'torero walk', gliding my feet, holding the pole away from my body, head high.
I would like to continue to tell stories of what I did in a biographical way, so I will continue to write.
Wire-walking in performance is one thing - I never fell, of course. If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it.
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.
I was in art school once a week from six to 16, which was essential in shaping my artistic sensitivity.
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.
Usually, when I walk on a wire, I inspect the anchor point on both sides before crossing.
For me, since I have a life wish, not a death wish, for me, I was not gambling my life. I was doing something much more beautiful. I was carrying my life across.
Passion is the motto of all my actions.
I started putting a wire up in secret and performing without permission. Notre Dame, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the World Trade Center. And I developed a certitude, a faith that convinced me that I will get safely to the other side. If not, I will never do that first step.