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The former "3rd Rock from the Sun" child star, now 34, talked
with Reuters about training for the movie and the unexpected
similarities between walking a wire and acting.
"The Walk" opens across U.S. theaters on Friday. Below are
excerpts.
Q: You already spoke some French and had done gymnastics as a
kid. In the film, you not only walk a high wire, you also juggle
and ride a unicycle. What was the training like?
A: Philippe (Petit) insisted that he be the one to teach me to
walk on the wire first. Not every one who is good at doing
something is always good at teaching it but he turned out to be
an excellent teacher. He convinced me that I was able to do it
and once I believed that I could, then I did. The training was
several months. I love a challenge. I love trying to do
something that is hard, it makes it fulfilling to me.
I found there is quite a bit of overlap between the mental game
of walking on the wire and acting. When you are walking on a
wire you can't be thinking 'Whoa, it's really quite high, I
might fall.' You have to just fix your eyes on where the wire
ends and clear your mind of everything else.
"There is a similarity with acting. When you are shooting a
scene and the cameras are rolling, you can't be thinking of what
people will think of the movie. You have to clear your mind of
all that stuff and just be present.
Q: The movie also seems like a love letter to New York's Twin
Towers.
A: When any of us see images of the World Trade Center towers,
our minds go immediately to the tragedy. I was in New York City
on 9/11 and I remember it really well. But with any tragic loss,
it's also good to remember the positive things, the beautiful
memories that you have. It's like grieving over a lost loved
one. You don't want to focus only on the death, you want to
celebrate their life and that is what we wanted to do with this
movie and the Twin Towers.
(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Steve Orlofsky)
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