Magnolia gladly trips over Marsh’s ‘Wire’

Before it became the symbolic lieu that it is today, the twin towers were (back in 74′) another sort of crime scene. James Marsh’s much talked about Sundance film festival documentary film (it picked up a pair of awards in Park City) has found a winning bid from Magnolia Pictures. North American theatrical and DVD distribution rights for Man on Wire were picked up by the indie distributor who has been on a one title per week buying spree. This will receive a summer release.

I’m personally a fan of Marsh’s last feature: The King – a sermon on religious hypocrisy and a strange path to redemption starring Gael Garcia Bernal. This return to non-fiction looks at the the high-wire act Philippe Petit.  

Equal parts heist story, true life drama and urban fairytale, MAN ON WIRE brings together, for the first time, all of the key participants in Petit’s “coup” to tell their story.  These first-hand memories help illustrate how Petit, who had already gained worldwide attention for his street performances and daring clandestine high-wire walks between the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia, became obsessed with an idea that, in retrospect, seems too incredible to achieve.  From never-before-seen footage shot at a covert training camp in the French countryside, to the recruitment of an “inside man” who helped smuggle more than a ton of equipment into the World Trade Center, to artful recreations of the tense hours and minutes leading up to the event and the spectacle of the actual walk, MAN ON WIRE provides an unprecedented portrait of the details and drama that defined this effort.