THE OLD HEAVE WOE!
Twin Towers film churns stomachs
“The Walk” could make you sick. Really.
Some vertiginous viewers have been caught off balance by the 3D flick about the daredevil who walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers — feeling downright queasy by the perceived height.
Joseph GordonLevitt plays Frenchman Philippe Petit, who sneaked to the top of the World Trade Center on Aug. 7, 1974, and performed his deathdefying act 1,362 feet above the ground without a net.
After the movie’s first screening at the New York Film Festival over the weekend, director Robert Zemeckis said he actually wanted audiences to experience vertigo, ac cording to Business Insider.
He apparently got his wish — and then some.
“The last 20 minutes of the film I had to look away a couple of times because of the sensation of the height,” said Denise Widman, board director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, who is in town for the NYFF. “I felt a little bit queasy. I felt nervous. It was a tingling sensation and some anxiety.”
Others had it even worse. Journalist Mark Harris tweeted: “Reports of guys vomiting in the Alice Tully men’s rm postThe Walk: True. Witnessed it/came close. Bad visual trigger for vertigo sufferers.”
The movie, which hits IMAX screens Wednesday, will be widely released on Oct. 9.
The Oscarwinning documentary “Man on Wire” — which was based on Petit’s 2002 memoir “To Reach the Clouds” — featured firsthand accounts and photographs because the feat wasn’t captured in film footage from above.
In “The Walk,” computergenerated wizardry immerses moviegoers in the stomachchurning scenes — often peering into the abyss with the majestic Gotham skyline as a backdrop.
A 2013 study found that about 55 percent of 497 people who watched a 3D movie reported at least one physical complaint. About 1 in 10 felt queasy, the study in the journal PLOS ONE found.
The reason some people are more susceptible to the discomfort is due to the mismatch be tween the distance at which our eyes converge and at which they focus, according to the journal.
“Viewing 3D movies can increase rating of nausea, oculomotor [disturbances] and disorientation,” the study said. “Analogous to riding a rollercoaster, for most individuals the increase in symptoms is part of the 3D experience.”
Percival Arguero Mendoza, 30, a filmmaker from Mexico City who saw the movie with his gal pal, said the most sickening part was when the character lay on the cable.
“It felt very real. I felt a knot in my stomach. It’s like my head was reeling but I was not dizzy,” he said. “The audience got a fear of him falling. It’s like actually picturing in your mind him falling. You really get a sense of depth.”