Leave it to Robert Zemeckis to make one man balancing on a tightrope more of a visual spectacle than anything else hitting theaters this fall – and that’s including trips to Neverland, future dystopias and Gothic haunted houses. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays French daredevil Philippe Petit in The Walk – and in the new trailer for the pic, adapted from Petit’s book To Reach the Clouds, he appears to have one of the most exciting – and physically demanding – roles of his career.
Petit’s story – involving an illegal wire walk between the World Trade Center towers in 1974 – was last adapted to film in James Marsh’s documentary Man on Wire, which won an Oscar back in 2008.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Twelve people have walked on the moon, but only one man has ever, or will ever, walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers. Guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), and aided by an unlikely band of international recruits, Petit and his gang overcome long odds, betrayals, dissension and countless close calls to conceive and execute their mad plan. Robert Zemeckis, the director of such marvels as Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Back to the Future, Polar Express and Flight, again uses cutting edge technology in the service of an emotional, character-driven story. With innovative photorealistic techniques and IMAX 3D wizardry, The Walk is true big-screen cinema, a chance for moviegoers to viscerally experience the feeling of reaching the clouds. The film is a love letter to Paris and New York City in the 1970s, but most of all, to the Towers of the World Trade Center.
The Walk co-stars Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale, Clément Sibony, César Domboy, Benedict Samuel, Ben Schwartz and Steve Valentine. It has been selected as the opening night film at the upcoming 53rd New York Film Festival, but it will open wide October 2.
