Man on Wire (2008) on Netflix
PG-1320081h 34mBiographyCrimeDocumentary
French tightrope walker Philippe Petit dreams of walking a wire between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. In 1974 he assembles a team to rig the illegal crossing.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.7/1061,405 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
At seventeen, Philippe Petit heard that two towers were planned for New York, and he became obsessed with walking a wire between them. A Parisian street performer, he prepared with unsanctioned walks between the towers of Notre-Dame Basilica in Paris and on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. For the 1974 attempt on the World Trade Center, he recruited a support team, some of them strangers before the project, to get equipment onto the roofs and string a cable undetected. The wire would face building sway and extreme weather at that altitude, and Annie Allix, his longtime girlfriend, was central to the group. The documentary draws on footage, photographs, reenactments and interviews with the participants.
Cast
- Jean François Heckelas Himself (as Jean-François Heckel)
- Jean-Louis Blondeauas Himself
- Annie Allixas Herself
- David Formanas Himself
- Alan Welneras Himself
- Barry Greenhouseas Himself (as N. Barry Greenhouse)
- Jim Mooreas Himself
- Guy F. Tozzolias Himself (as Guy Tozzoli)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Man on Wire (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer Simon Chinn first came across Philippe Petit in April 2005 on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, then set out to buy the rights to Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds. Petit agreed after months of talks, on the condition that he could actively collaborate in the making of the film.
- Director James Marsh deliberately left out any mention of the Twin Towers' destruction in the 2001 attacks, arguing Petit's act was "incredibly beautiful" and it would be unfair and wrong to infect his story with any mention or imagery of the towers being destroyed.
- Man on Wire won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the World Cinema documentary competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, becoming the sixth film and the first from outside the US to take both top awards there.
Stills
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