James Marsh (Man on Wire)

Director James Marsh (The Theory of Everything) joins Tiller to revisit his Academy-Award winning film “Man on Wire”, a joyous and masterful documentary about high-wire daredevil Philippe Petit’s 1974 stunt: performing acrobatics on a thin wire strung between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Their thoughtful discussion touches on sanctifying the Twin Towers in a post 9/11 era (2:25), James's process of courting Philippe (12:14), the film's unlikely success at the Sundance Film Festival (19:00), making documentaries cinematic (24:00), trusting the audience (25:45), crafting unique reconstructions (30:42), the hidden blessings of small budgets (38:00), signing a blood pact for Philippe's film archive (42:09), and finally whether James ever intends to return to nonfiction filmmaking (46:00).