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Man On Wire

Man on Wire
Man on wire ver2.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by James Marsh
Produced by Simon Chinn
Starring Philippe Petit (as himself)
Music by
Cinematography Igor Martinovic
Edited by Jinx Godfrey
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • 22 January 2008 (2008-01-22) (Sundance)
  • 25 July 2008 (2008-07-25) (US)
  • 1 August 2008 (2008-08-01) (UK)
Running time
94 minutes
Country
  • United Kingdom
Language
  • English
  • French
Budget £1.1 million (approx. $1.9 million)
Box office $5.3 million

Man on Wire is a 2008 British biographical documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, released in paperback with the title Man on Wire. The title of the film is taken from the police report that led to the arrest (and later release) of Petit, whose performance had lasted for almost one hour. The film is crafted like a heist film, presenting rare footage of the preparations for the event and still photographs of the walk, alongside re-enactments (with Paul McGill as the young Petit) and present-day interviews with the participants, including Barry Greenhouse, an insurance executive who served as the inside man.

Man on Wire competed in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Documentary and the World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary. In February 2009, the film won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

The film's producer Simon Chinn first encountered Philippe Petit in April 2005 on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, after which he decided to try to acquire the film rights to his book, To Reach the Clouds. After months of discussion, Petit agreed, with the condition that he could actively collaborate in the making of the film. In an interview conducted during the run of Man on Wire at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, director James Marsh explained that he was drawn to the story in part because it immediately struck him as "a heist movie." As Jean François, one of Petit's collaborators later said, "It may have been illegal...but it wasn’t wicked or mean."


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