Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm - walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers.
The greatest thing about the call-in show is that you always felt like you were on a high wire without a net.
You're out there on a high wire without a net, and that's the way actors operate. They have to be fearless about how they work and they have to create a life for the audience in 90 minutes and make them believe.
Acting is like a high wire act. Your margin for error is very slim.
Cooking a piece of fish and cooking it right. Knowing the fish, knowing the properties of the fish. That's a hard thing to do rather than covering it with a lot of sauces and foams or other cooking methods that might be high wire acts and look good on the outside.
I'm not an artist, and I want to take risks, and when the possibility of failure occurs, it's because the idea is all exciting or interesting as a high wire act, and sometimes you've got to fall off, just by virtue of the fact that you're constantly trying to evolve and do new things.
If 'ecstasy' means to stand outside ourselves, then what better ambition can there be as we wait in the wings of the Royal Albert Hall: to leave self-obsession behind and take the audience on a journey across the high wire of Beethoven or the flying trapeze of Liszt.
If you're one car accident away from poverty, you're on a high wire without a safety net. And that's a challenging proposition.
US Customs Agent: [seeing his equipment] And what's all this for?
Philippe Petit: I'm going to hang a high wire between the World Trade Center Towers... And walk on it.
US Customs Agent: Right. Good luck. Next!
