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Between the Twin Towers with 'Man on Wire' Philippe Petit
by Troy Rogers
 In an age when extreme stunts have dominated the TV airwaves, no one on Earth can claim they once walked across a high wire between the famous Twin Towers of New York City's World Trade Center. It's a feat that's almost impossible to believe if it weren't for old photos, news footage, the recent award winning documentary Man on Wire, and the December book release of the same name. The story of Philippe Petit and his quest to walk a wire between the Twin Towers back in 1974 not only recalls the early days of the birth of the World Trade Center but it chronicles one of the most awe-inspiring challenges any man has ever set out to overcome. It's so amazing that even when looking at the photos of Petit's high wire act atop the Twin Towers, the walk is still hard to believe.
With the Man on Wire documentary being hailed as one of the best pictures of 2008, and the book recently hitting store shelves, we had the opportunity to go back in time with Philippe Petit in an exclusive one-on-one chat to find out how he prepared for the walk, what he took away from the experience, his reaction to seeing the Twin Towers fall down, whether he prepared to die, and if it had been legal whether he still would have wanted to risk his life for the walk of a lifetime.
THE DEADBOLT: After so much time, and turning down other offers to make the movie, why did you agree to do it now?
 PHILIPPE PETIT: I agreed because the producers welcomed my collaboration. Others wanted me to sell on the bottom line and be invited to the premiere, and I said, ‘Not interested.’
THE DEADBOLT: So what was going through your mind when you took the first step, then the second step and so on?
PETIT: Well, I wrote a book about that because the answer can not be in a line, it’s ten or twelve pages, but I can give the essence for you. It is basically I was very very happy. I had been so frustrated and so impatient to find myself on that wire after all of those years of dreaming and months of preparation, I was basically ecstatic. My dream was turning into a reality that day.
THE DEADBOLT: Since you prepared for so long, what were some of the things you weren’t prepared for once you got up there?
PETIT: Well, I dream for so long, you know? I saw the towers being built and I heard they were near completion, so it was on and off here in France. Hearing about the twin towers, it was more dream-like. When I started to work tangibly on the project was when I realized the towers were near completion and I ran to New York. It was January of 1974 and I spent basically eight months in two trips to spy on the towers, I should say. That was the way it worked. I had to find where to anchor my wire, how to bring heavy equipment into the building, and I did my homework, so to speak, by observing the towers day and night and sneaking in. Going to the top, measuring, having photos taken, all of those things was how I prepared.
THE DEADBOLT: What was the security for the towers like back then?
 PETIT: Well, it was heavy security. I guess it was not honed. It was not super organized. And, as always, even in a good security system it’s made of human beings. So unless you’re really motivated in defending your house, your country, your property - if you’re just an employee and you feel you’re not paid enough and you hate your job, of course you’re not going to take security super seriously. So this is the way it is.
THE DEADBOLT: In contrast to preparing for the walk, how did you prepare to die? Or did you?
PETIT: [laughs] No, I certainly didn’t prepare, I was preparing to live. And I never prepared for the walk, actually. Yes, I did at some point, I talk about it in the book and we see it in the film. I put a wire of the exact same length between two imaginary roofs in a big meadow in France and that was a few months before my walk. I asked my friends to move the cable as I was walking across it. It was about twelve, fifteen feet off of the ground and I was thinking that could represent the wind turbulence, it could represent the policemen moving the cable. So I remember doing that. But it was absolutely naive, although it was great training [laughs]. Other than that, I never thought of the walk, actually.
THE DEADBOLT: It's strange to think that if the police brought in a helicopter to get you, they probably would’ve killed you.
 PETIT: Yes, incidentally, they were going to. That was after forty-five minutes of frustrating wait. They actually declared that they were going to take the tension out of the cable and come and pick me up with a helicopter. That would’ve been instant disappearance of the wire walker.
THE DEADBOLT: When you were practicing on the wire in the meadow, how did you factor in the wind?
PETIT: Well, there was not much to calculate about the wind, because all of my observations showed me either there is not much wind and I’m really lucky, either there is a lot of wind and it is impossibly to walk even on the floor, so forget about it there, or there is turbulence there almost constantly. And there is nothing you can do about turbulence. You can not really practice in the middle of wind turbulence. So it was more getting to know my limits and practicing with bad winds, which I did, but I could not really negotiate the exact velocity and direction of the wind when it was mostly a dancing wind called turbulence.
THE DEADBOLT: Can you tell me what it felt like to watch the towers fall down?
PETIT: It was very personal because I had those towers alive inside of me. I can not say much more than that, knowing that there were so many human lives lost that day. It would not be right to talk about the destruction of a building when lives were taken away.
THE DEADBOLT: I was curious if it felt like a dream or if it was even more surreal for you?
 PETIT: I saw it on television like many other people and I remember my first thoughts were of this belief that I could not believe my eyes that this was happening.
THE DEADBOLT: How do you describe the walk? Was it an artistic expression or an act of defiance?
PETIT: No, not at all. I would describe it as improvised intimate theater. Theater is always how I describe the walk and the performance has many faces. Some moments of the performance were really between me and the wire, me and the towers, and me and the birds. Some were directed to the crowd that was growing to 100,000 people and I could hear them react to my moves. So I performed at some point. It was very strange, of course, it was an unannounced performance at the top of the world.
THE DEADBOLT: What did you take away from it from a spiritual standpoint?
PETIT: Well, it’s what I get each time I walk on the wire. It’s where I love to live. And to be able to walk on the wire I have to live my life completely, totally, in full focus. And the feeling of living intensely is magnificent, it’s what life should be all of the time. So this walk - maybe a little bit more than other walks because it was so high, so out of proportion - it gave me the feeling that I feel in many of my walks, which is to enter into a world we’re not made of, really trespassing in a territory where man is not allowed. If not, we would have feathers and wings.
THE DEADBOLT: When you got to the other side, did the police beat up on you?
 PETIT: No. But it was a very violent arrest because they were very frustrated to have waited so long, and being laughed at in some ways [laughs].
THE DEADBOLT: If it had been legal, would you still have tried to do it? I mean, would it have been as good for you?
PETIT: No, it would have been better if it was legal. We could’ve had bleachers and 250,000 people, it could’ve been announced, there could’ve been music, a costume and a program, and the rigging would’ve been much better. The other rigging was a disaster. In a way, if I had gotten permission, which was absolutely impossible - of course it never came to my mind to ask permission - but it would’ve been a very different kind of performance, much more professional.
THE DEADBOLT: It definitely made it a lot more exciting.
PETIT: [laughs] Oh, yes.
-- Troy Rogers
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