--- name: "Philippe Petit" canonical: "https://film.one/person/philippe-petit" fi1m_id: "philippe-petit" imdb_id: "nm0677597" tmdb_id: 81425 wikidata_id: "Q705289" roles: ["Writer"] born: "13 April 1949" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_as: "writer" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-17T23:01:18.991181+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Philippe Petit ## Identity Philippe Petit - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/philippe-petit - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** philippe-petit - **IMDb ID:** nm0677597 - **TMDB ID:** 81425 - **Wikidata ID:** Q705289 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Petit, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q705289, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0677597/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/81425 Writer. Born 13 April 1949 in Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, France. ## Details - **Work:** Writer - **Born:** 13 April 1949, Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, France - **Active:** 2008–present - **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 writing - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 90 (1), 2020s 82 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Petit, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q705289, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0677597/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/81425 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Man on Wire*](https://film.one/film/man-on-wire.md) (90) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Philippe Petit > Philippe Petit is a compelling screen presence as himself: a flamboyant storyteller who makes painstaking preparation entertaining. *Man on Wire* earns our enthusiasm by giving that charm room, without overlooking how much he asks of other people. In *Man on Wire* (2008), Philippe Petit recounts the preparations for his Twin Towers walk with enough enthusiasm to make joining the team sound tempting. James Marsh gives him time to talk, and the flamboyance helps us understand why others agreed to help. We were caught up in his excitement, then uneasy at how much work his companions were being asked to do. That is a large part of the documentary's appeal: it allows Petit to persuade us while keeping the demands on his helpers in view. Petit began as a street juggler and wire walker in the 1960s, and treats a walk as a theatrical performance rather than a test of nerve. The rigging and the practice belong to the work, which is why Marsh's attention to preparation suits him so well. The 1974 undertaking supplies the film with the makings of a heist, and Petit supplies its excitement. He is persuasive without making the original wish seem remotely sensible. The film is less assured when it illustrates what he has already made interesting. Igor Martinović's cinematography gives the reconstructions the air of a caper, though their staged quality can pull attention away from the people remembering. We would sometimes rather stay with Petit or the archive material. Michael Nyman and J. Ralph's music brings pleasure to the planning, but some cues insist on excitement that is already there. His book supplied the basis for Robert Zemeckis's *The Walk* (2015); he later played the Brussels MC in Josh Safdie's *Marty Supreme* (2025). Neither credit is what our enthusiasm rests on. In Marsh's documentary, we can see a performer making his own experience entertaining, and a director sensible enough to leave his egotism visible. Start with *Man on Wire*, and listen to the helpers as carefully as to Petit. ## Biography Philippe Petit is a French high-wire artist. He gained attention for unauthorised high-wire walks between the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1971, the pylons of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973, and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York on 7 August 1974. The 2008 documentary *Man on Wire*, directed by James Marsh, recounts the planning and execution of the World Trade Center walk. Petit appears in the film as himself and is credited as a writer. The documentary won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2009. A dramatisation, *The Walk* (2015), directed by Robert Zemeckis, starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit. *Sources: britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org.* ## On Fi1m (2) ### Performed in (1) - *Marty Supreme* (2025), Fi1m 82, as Brussels MC — [page](https://film.one/film/marty-supreme.md) ### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these - *Man on Wire* (2008), Fi1m 90, as Himself — [page](https://film.one/film/man-on-wire.md) ## Complete filmography (4) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Marty Supreme* (2025), as Brussels MC — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/marty-supreme.md) - *The Walk* (2015), Novel - *Man on Wire* (2008), Writer — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/film/man-on-wire.md) - *Mondo* (1995), Actor ## Gallery - ![Hess Brothers Department Store - 16 Aug MC - Allentown PA (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/100162/gallery-eda037894f62.jpg) Hess Brothers Department Store - 16 Aug MC - Allentown PA (1974) — Self Scanned, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/1974_-_Hess_Brothers_Department_Store_-_16_Aug_MC_-_Allentown_PA.jpg/1280px-1974_-_Hess_Brothers_Department_Store_-_16_Aug_MC_-_Allentown_PA.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Phillippe Petit - Hess Brothers (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/100162/gallery-ccfea2ba5fb7.jpg) Phillippe Petit - Hess Brothers (1974) — Self Scanned, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/1974_-_Phillippe_Petit_-_Hess_Brothers_-_Allentown_PA.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Phillippe Petit - Hess Brothers (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/100162/gallery-e44d26b13dea.jpg) Phillippe Petit - Hess Brothers (1974) — Self Scanned, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/1974_-_Phillippe_Petit_-_High_Wire_Walk_-_19_Aug_MC_-_Allentown_PA.jpg/1280px-1974_-_Phillippe_Petit_-_High_Wire_Walk_-_19_Aug_MC_-_Allentown_PA.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Philippe Petit at the 81st Academy Awards](https://film.one/media/person/100162/gallery-69f54193557f.jpg) Philippe Petit at the 81st Academy Awards — Chrisa Hickey at https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisahickey/, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/PhilippePetitAAFeb09.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Philippe Petit](https://film.one/media/person/100162/gallery-dd2bbff59289.jpg) Philippe Petit — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 1 won - James Parks Morton Interfaith Award 2007: James Parks Morton Interfaith Award (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/philippe-petit