Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Be the ‘Man On Wire’ For Robert Zemeckis

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is on top of the world with his 'HitRecord' TV show and an upcoming 'Sandman' film with Warner Bros. go-to scribe David Goyer, but now he'll be soaring to new heights. Robert Zemeckis' latest endeavor, a film based on the memoir 'To Reach the Clouds,' has tapped Levitt to play the real-life death-defying man who walked between the World Trade Center towers on a wire.

Twitch Film broke the news of the casting of Levitt, who'll soon be portraying the famous Philippe Petit. The Frenchman has already been given cinematic form with the documentary 'Man On Wire' on top of his original memoir, 'To Reach the Clouds,' and Colum McCann's 'Let the Great World Spin: A Novel.' This new project with Zemeckis at the helm, however, will be a scripted feature film.

From the description of the 'Man On Wire' himself from the documentary:

On August 7, 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the New York World Trade Center’s twin towers. After dancing for nearly an hour on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. This extraordinary documentary incorporates Petit’s personal footage to show how he overcame seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve the artistic crime of the century.

Moves to make 'To Reach the Clouds' into a theatrical release have been documented since 2011, though, as Twitch points out, progress has been slow moving. While we await more updates, since it looks like the film is finally stretching its wings a bit, take a look at the trailer for 'Man On Wire' and just imagine what Levitt will look like in the leading role of Petit.