Man on a Ledge

Asger Leth came to fiction from documentary; his previous film, dated 2006, was shot in Haiti. Most of the ledge work by Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks was done on the real ledge of the Roosevelt Hotel, outside a room set on the 21st floor, with a miniature ledge about eight feet up used for a few shots. Worthington has said that the first time he went out he asked them to roll the camera and see what they got, and that the first stretch you see is genuinely the first attempt. He corrects the usual description too: not a fear of heights but of falling and hitting the ground, with trepidation the better word. The crowd below is assembled. People were combined from other takes so the street stayed consistent, a rig made the hotel read as taller, and extra floors were added afterwards to avoid a second attachment point. The distraction in the plot is partly a distraction in the shooting, and the camera does not stay out there: the narrative keeps cutting to the second line. A good fit if knowing the actor is really out on the ledge changes the scene for you, and you do not mind being taken back down at intervals. Not for anyone wanting unbroken tension inside a single confined space.