The high-wire artist, who made his début atop the towers of Notre-Dame, has scaled up to taller skyscrapers, including the World Trade Center. Gwen Kinkead reports.
The young man was Philippe Petit, the finest high-wire artist to have appeared in several generations. Since his début atop Notre-Dame, at the age of twenty-one, Petit has danced high over the earth in Vancouver, Jerusalem, and New Orleans. He has capered above aborigines in the outback, lumberjacks in Russia, and Picasso on his ninetieth birthday. He has traversed waterfalls, gorges, and valleys at various spots on the globe.
For this kind of job, his fee is fifteen thousand dollars and up , depending on the difficulty of the rigging. Some years, he gets no offers he likes, and so doesn’t work. His income would be steadier if he accepted advertising work. He will not do that. This stand alienates him from agents, and vice versa.
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