How do you get into the mindset of 24-year-old high wire walker who dreams of strolling between the tops of the Twin Towers that rose 1,362 feet over downtown Manhattan? That was the dizzying challenge set before Joseph Gordon-Levitt in his new film The Walk. The Robert Zemeckis-directed biopic played before an enraptured audience at the 53rd New York Film Festival?s opening night. And the following day, Gordon-Levitt sat down to discuss Philippe Petit, who not only inspired the film, but also taught its star how to walk the walk on the wire. Joseph said, "Philippe insisted that he be the one to teach me how to walk on the wire. But, as you say, while he was teaching me to walk on the wire, I was listening to him talk all day long. That was really key. And, if anything, I just wanted to tone down his accent so that everyone could understand?the English speakers could understand everything I said.
But he?s such an optimist, is the thing about Philippe. Not everyone who is good at doing something is also good at teaching it. Because he?s such a positive thinker, he was convinced that I?d be able to get up on that wire and walk by myself. He ended up convincing me. Once I believed in myself, then I was able to do it."