Wire-walk film omits 9/11 tragedy

The director of a film about the Frenchman who wire-walked between the Twin Towers in 1974 explains why 9/11 plays no part in his documentary.

When the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center crumbled into a cloud of dust and rubble on 11 September, 2001, one man had as much cause to mourn as any.

That man was Philippe Petit, the French tightrope walker who so audaciously crossed from one to the other on the morning of 7 August, 1974.

That never-to-be-repeated feat has now inspired a feature-length documentary, Man on Wire, in which Petit and his co-conspirators detail the planning and execution of their remarkable coup.

One thing absent from the film, though, is the World Trade Center's eventual fate - a move its British director, James Marsh, calls "an easy choice to make".

'Poignancy'

"What Philippe did was incredibly beautiful," he explains. "It may have been illegal, but it was not in any way destructive.

"It would be unfair and wrong to infect his story with any mention, discussion or imagery of the Towers being destroyed.

Originally posted by yllibdab
"What Philippe did was incredibly beautiful," he explains. "It may have been illegal, but it was not in any way destructive.

"It would be unfair and wrong to infect his story with any mention, discussion or imagery of the Towers being destroyed.

Wow, and I used to think P. Diddy was sensitive. This restores my faith in the mass media and mass marketing and the power of grovelling abjectly in the appropriate circumstances.

As an aside, I wonder how many New Yorkers were trying to pot him with their pellet guns as the guy moved along the wire.

Didn't they take the towers out of one of the Batman movies also? The movie industry is so sensitive. Someone should do a tribute to them once a year.

Uh, skip it, they do it themselves anyway. I forgot.

RIP 9/11 victims. We'll get the bastards for you.

Originally posted by ipsedixit
Didn't they take the towers out of one of the Batman movies also? The movie industry is so sensitive. Someone should do a tribute to them once a year.

It was the movie Spiderman. The original theater promo had spiderman catching the criminals helicopter in a web that was between the two towers. They pulled it quickly, due to the sensitive nature and out of respect for the victims.