Joseph Gordon-Levitt has revealed how terrifying it was to learn how to walk the tightrope.

The Don Jon star plays French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, who walked between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre on August 7, 1974, in Robert Zemeckis’ drama, The Walk.

“When we were shooting the film, we were 12 feet off the ground, which is obviously nothing like 1,300 feet off the ground,” the actor explained.

“I learnt on a two-foot wire where, if you lose your balance, you can step off. When you get up to 12 feet and you lose your balance, you can’t step off.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in The Walk
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in The Walk (Sony Pictures)

“It was scary and I did experience that seizing up of my body and that tension, which only dissipated after time.”

It was Philippe himself who taught Joseph how to walk the wire.

Philippe Petit
Philippe Petit (Charles Sykes/Invision)

The star said: “Philippe insisted that he be the one to teach me to walk on the wire. He’s such an optimist that he convinced me that I could do it.

“I think his optimism is a big part of why he is able to accomplish such incredible things because when he believed I could do it, then I believed I could do it.

Joseph said the showmanship in tightrope walking is similar to acting.

“There’s a similarity between wire-walking and acting, because it all has to do with focus,” he explained.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in The Walk
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in The Walk (Sony Pictures)

The 34-year-old actor continued: “When you’re on the wire, you have to just focus on the goal, you can’t think about ‘What if I’m not good enough, what if I lose my balance? I might die. I’m really high up’.

“Similarly when you’re acting – you can’t think, ‘Look at all these camera people, look at this crew, I wonder what people will think of this movie, I wonder how critics will receive it’.

“You can’t be thinking about any of those things. You just have to keep your focus, so there’s that overlap in the mental focus required.”

The Walk opens in cinemas nationwide on October 9.