“The Walk” director Robert Zemeckis said in a press conference following the first screening of the film at the New York Film Festival that he wanted to give the audience a sense of vertigo while watching, and it seems he was successful.
The film recounts high wire artist Philippe Petit’s walk across the Twin Towers of the Wold Trade Center in the summer of 1974.
But unlike the previous retelling of Petit’s feat, the Oscar-winning 2008 documentary “Man on Wire,” Zemeckis wasn’t constrained to just first-hand accounts and photographs (there is no film footage of the walk).
Using 3D, Zemeckis takes us with Petit as he walks his wire between the towers numerous times. At one moment he lies down on the wire. He also does tricks while walking on it.
But perhaps the most jarring visuals is when Zemeckis has the camera show the insane height Petit (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is at.
The Towers were 1,362 feet high.
The visuals have been too much for some who have watched it.
A reporter told Zemeckis and his cast at the press conference that the scenes above the towers made him feel a little sick.
Later that evening journalist/author Mark Harris tweeted this following the film opening the New York Film Festival.
Reports of guys vomiting in the Alice Tully men's rm post-The Walk: True. Witnessed it/came close. Bad visual trigger for vertigo sufferers.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) September 27, 2015This reporter did feel uncomfortable at one scene towards the end (won’t spoil it for anyone).
“The Walk” (opening October 9) certainly isn’t the first film that has caused some to feel nauseous, but it’s one of the few where watching it in 3D on an IMAX screen is almost a requirement. The visuals are that incredible.
Just don’t eat a big meal before going to see it.
SEE ALSO: Here's why Robert Zemeckis would never convert his old movies to 3D
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