American Experience
The Center of the World: Interview Outtakes

Philippe Petit:
video | transcript

Getting the Cable Across 1 -- Rehearsing the Walk2 -- Getting the Cable Across3 -- Setting Foot On the Cable4 -- Being Aerial

Mike Wallace Pete Hamill Carol Willis Guy Tozzoli
Leslie Robertson Camilo José Vergara Niall Ferguson Philippe Petit
William Langewiesche Ed Koch Mario Cuomo Ada Louise Huxtable

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The first problem was how to pass the cable across, how to pass the first line, which will ultimately become a rope strong enough to pull a heavy steel cable. So the first line was supposed to be the lightest and the most invisible, so I opted for a fishing line, nylon fishing line, of course trying different weights because some will snap. So how to get that fishing line across? It's like 200 feet from center of roof to center of roof, roughly. So for months and months in France, prior to coming to America, I battled with my friends about some ideas. We had all kind of ideas. And the idea that prevailed was the one I thought was ridiculous, was a bow and arrow. But actually, after a lot of manipulation and prototypes of the bow, of the arrow, of the wheel (the wheel actually that allows the fishing line to pay off against the wind), it actually worked. So with a fishing line and a bow and arrow, we passed the first line. And then all night we pulled, and then the cable was secured. All that with a lot of incidents. That's the beauty of a plan, is that they never work, the plans, you know. So we had a lot of improvisation, and I was the only one knowing about rigging...