The Walk is a 2015 American 3D biographical drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Christopher Browne and Zemeckis. It is based on the true story of 24-year-old French highwire artist Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit, alongside Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz, and Steve Valentine.
The film was released by TriStar Pictures on September 30, 2015 in the United States in IMAX 3D, and on October 9 in regular 2D and 3D. Despite positive reviews, it underperformed at the box office. The film was dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks.
Plot[]
In 1973, French street performer Philippe Petit strives to earn a living in Paris through juggling and wire walking, much to his father's dismay. During a performance, he injures his tooth on a hard candy given by an audience member. At the dentist's office, a magazine photo of the Twin Towers in New York City captures his attention, and he vows to tightrope walk between them. Concurrently, his father evicts him for his unstable income and street performing career. Philippe revisits the circus that sparked his passion for wire walking and practices after hours, impressing Papa Rudy with his juggling. One day, Philippe encounters Annie, a fellow street performer, and they start a romantic relationship. Unbeknownst to him at the time, she becomes his first "accomplice." He shares his World Trade Center tightrope dream with Annie, who offers her music school as a practice venue. Philippe also befriends a photographer, Jean-Louis, who becomes his official photographer and second accomplice in his "coup."
Philippe seeks advice from Papa Rudy on knot tying and rope rigging, which Papa Rudy consents to provide for a fee. Following a failed performance that results in a plunge into a lake, Philippe aims to restore his reputation by walking unauthorized across the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He accomplishes this feat with Jean-Louis' assistance but gets arrested. Jean-Louis then introduces Jeff, who is acrophobic, to Philippe and Annie, and shares his plan to span the Towers with a cable using a bow and arrow attached to a fishing line. Philippe and Annie head to America, planning the walk for August 7, 1974. Disguised, Philippe surveils the construction sites, injuring his foot on a nail. He encounters Barry Greenhouse, a fan who becomes part of the team. They also connect with J.P., Albert, and David. The team repeatedly reviews their strategy, concluding with the imperative that Philippe must start his walk before the construction crews arrive at 7:00 a.m.
On the event's eve, the team faced multiple obstacles, including a three-hour delay, on-site guards, and nearly losing the heavy cable from the rooftop. Nevertheless, they managed to rig the ropes and secure the cables. Philippe began his tightrope walk (1,350 ft above ground) picking up his balancing pole, feeling everything else vanish except for the wire and himself, experiencing gratitude and peace for the first time. He crossed between the towers to the applause of spectators. Reaching the other side, he felt compelled to return, making several passes over the expanse. He even knelt in a salute and lay down on the wire. Police are coaxed to extract him by helicopter, but Philippe persisted, crossing eight times in 45 minutes, occasionally playing to the crowd before police demanded he descend. Arrested upon completion, he earned the police and workers' admiration for his courage. All charges were dropped, Philippe chose to stay in New York, while Annie returned to Paris to pursue her dreams. The building manager gifted Philippe an eternal pass to the towers' observation decks, and with a poignant glance at the camera against the Twin Towers backdrop, Philippe noted the pass's expiration date had been altered to "forever" (indirectly mentioning the infamous day in 2001 when the towers were remembered instead for something that terrorized the world).
Cast[]
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Philippe Petit
- Charlotte Le Bon as Annie Allix
- Ben Kingsley as Papa Rudy
- Clément Sibony as Jean-Louis
- James Badge Dale as Jean-Pierre
- César Domboy as Jeff
- Ben Schwartz as Albert
- Benedict Samuel as David
- Steve Valentine as Barry Greenhouse
Production[]
On January 23, 2014, it was announced that Robert Zemeckis would direct a film based on the story of Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. It was also confirmed that Zemeckis wanted Joseph Gordon-Levitt to star in the film as Petit. Zemeckis first came across the story of Petit from the children's book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. At first, Zemeckis questioned whether or not the story was true as he did not recall the event, saying he "somehow missed it." Zemeckis immediately recognized the potential for a movie, telling Deadline: "To me, it had everything that you want in a movie. It had an interesting character who’s driven, and obsessed, and passionate. It had all this caper stuff. He was an outlaw. There was suspense. And then he did this death-defying thing." By February 2014, Gordon-Levitt was confirmed to star in the film. In April 2014, Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley and James Badge Dale joined the cast of the film. On May 6, 2014, it was announced that the film would be released on October 2, 2015. In May 2014, Steve Valentine and Ben Schwartz joined the cast of the film. Principal photography began on May 26, 2014, in Montreal, and ended on August 6, 2014.
Gordon-Levitt, who had no formal high-wire experience, trained directly with Petit. By the end of the eighth day, he was able to walk on the wire by himself, and continued to practice while shooting. Along with a stunt double, the actor shot the climactic wire-walking scenes on a soundstage; it had reconstructions of the top two stories of the tower and a wire approximately twelve feet off the ground, which was connected out across a green abyss and was anchored on a pole. To learn more about what it was like, Gordon-Levitt also walked the distance between the World Trade Center memorial's two pools, which are located where the Twin Towers stood before the September 11 attacks. He visited the original observatory once before, in 2001, during his first summer in New York City. "It was touristy but I wanted to go do it. I remember it distinctly. It felt more like being in the sky than being on a tall building." Aside from wire-walking, Gordon-Levitt also learned to speak French fluently, perfecting a Parisian accent aided by Le Bon and other French actors on set.
Release[]
The film premiered at the New York Film Festival on September 26, 2015. It had an early release in IMAX on September 30, 2015, before a wide theatrical release on October 9, 2015.
Reception[]
Box office[]
The Walk grossed $10.1 million in North America and $51 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $61.2 million, against a budget of $35 million.
The film was released into IMAX theaters on Wednesday, September 30, 2015. In the opening weekend of its limited release, the film grossed $1.6 million, finishing 11th at the box office. During the first weekend of its wide release a week later, the film grossed $3.7 million, coming in seventh.
Critical response[]
The Walk received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Gordon-Levitt's performance, Zemeckis' direction and the visual effects, particularly during the wire walk scene. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 83%, based on 273 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Walk attempts a tricky balancing act between thrilling visuals and fact-based drama – and like its wire-walking protagonist, pulls it off with impressive élan." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
John Lasser of IGN gave the film an 8.6 out of 10 'great' score. Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review, saying "A filmmaker with a gift for overcoming the seemingly impossible puts audiences in the place of the man who walked between the Twin Towers in this gripping human-interest story." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying "The film's payoff more than compensates for a lumbering setup, laden with cloying voiceover narration and strained whimsy." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "The film gets better as it goes, and the last half-hour (especially in 3-D on an Imax screen) is nearly everything it should be: scary, visually momentous, meticulously realized." Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Zemeckis finally delivers the goods in abundance in the section that really counts: A vertigo-inducing digital re-creation of Petit's famous walk back and forth between the towers."
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "The Walk satisfies as an absorbing yarn of authority-flouting adventure and as an example of stomach-flipping you-are-there-ness. The journey it offers viewers doesn't just span 140 feet, but also an ethereal, now-vanished, world." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Expect the worst from the first half- that's before Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) strings up a wire between the World Trade Center towers. But then, oh, baby, does this movie fly." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, saying "The last 30 minutes or so are all about the walk. Dariusz Wolski's cinematography is beautiful... and Gordon-Levitt does some of his best acting when he's out on the wire and mostly silent, his face glowing from the sheer crazy joy he's feeling." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three out of four stars, saying "It's two-thirds of a great film but the slow start and unremarkable first hour hold it back. Still, for those who buy into the precept that good things are worth waiting for, The Walk unquestionably delivers." Brian Truitt of USA Today gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "For those who want to feel like they're 110 stories up and living in the clouds, Hollywood does its job conjuring movie magic with a breathtaking Walk to remember."