Phillipe Petit has already had his incredible stunt documented in the 2008 film Man On Wire, and it has recently received the Hollywood treatment in the dramatic adaptation The Walk, but these still images demonstrate the enormity of the achievement.
Petit, who is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the new film, is a renowned French adrenaline seeker who got his rush by stringing up a heavy duty wire and walking the line at huge heights from some of the world’s greatest tourist sites.
These included the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Notre Dame, and his infamous trip between the North and South towers of the World Trade Center at 1,350 feet.
Check it out.
Petit made the crossing eight times in 45 minutes as police scrambled to the rooftop to bring the illegal walk to an end.
The Frenchman was arrested but later released on the condition he put on a free show for kids in Central Park. Petit was also given a lifetime pass granting him access to the Twin Towers’ observation deck.
But he insists he has no death-wish, stating the exact opposite in fact:
For me, it’s maybe an exploration. I do not fear exploration even if it’s an exploration that is going to swallow me. I would say it’s better to explore than to put yourself under God and call it living. So the boundary of life that we call death does not bother me. I have a life wish, not a death wish.
What a legend!
