Joseph Gordon-Levitt might touch the sky, literally, in Robert Zemeckis’ To Reach the Clouds.
Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974 was seen in the amazing documentary Man on Wire, but it might get a 3D Hollywood dramatization.
Twitch reported that Joseph Gordon-Levitt had signed on to star as Petit, but Deadline says Gordon-Levitt’s involvement may only be as the current prime target. Director Robert Zemeckis reportedly wants Gordon-Levitt as his leading man.
While the story will obviously conclude with the big tightrope walk between the twin towers, Deadline has some interesting details on what the rest of the script from Zemeckis and Christopher Browne based on Petit’s memoirs will include.
With the odds of successfully completing the feat being so low, tightrope walking between the twin towers could be seen as suicide. With that in mind, Petit’s attempt was not a planned event to the eyes of the public. He, his mentor, some relatives, and his girlfriend had to sneak up to the top of the buildings at night in order for him to make the walk.
If you haven’t seen Man on Wire, the documentary about Petit’s walk, you absolutely should. It’s the rare film that has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s available to stream on both on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The project looks like it will be the first film from Tom Rothman’s TriStar Productions. The company is close to acquiring the rights to the film. It’s an interesting and important film for Rothman. At Fox, he allowed filmmakers to make experimental 3D features like Avatar and Life of Pi, and he will do it again at TriStar with To Reach the Clouds. The tightrope element certainly does lend itself to being in 3D, but it’s one that could potentially be off-putting to viewers.