The stars began to align for Steve Valentine to join "The Walk" long before he auditioned for the Robert Zemeckis film.

On their first date, Valentine and his now wife Inna Korobkina saw the documentary "Man on Wire," which "The Walk" is based on, about Phillipe Petit's incredible high-wire stunt between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.

He later attended Petit's lecture at the Magic Castle in Hollywood on how to tie knots (based on his book "Why Knot?"). "Those things have probably saved his life over the years," Valentine told Headlines & Global News exclusively.

It all led to Valentine auditioning for the role of Barry Greenhouse, the inside man for Petit to gain access to the Twin Towers thanks to his job at the New York State Insurance Department located in the south tower. Greenhouse was also the actor's favorite person in the documentary.

"It was just a bizarre series of events," Valentine said. "I went and auditioned for the role like everybody else and won the part."

Valentine doesn't remember Petit's actual walk. He was only a young boy living in England at the time. As amazing as the high-wire act was, what Valentine really found interesting was how the stunt changed New Yorkers' perceptions of the steel giants that loomed large over Lower Manhattan.

"When the towers were being built, [New Yorkers] really hated them. They just called them giant filing cabinets," Valentine said about the city's residents and their initial disdain for the towers. "Then this event gave them a perspective, gave them a story, a heart, a bit of inspiration attached to the towers, and from there they grew to love them."

The Twin Towers play a vital role in the film and great care was taken to recreate its behemoth presence, not only with special effects but with the physical set as well. The movie reconstructed the interior ground floor with such detail, Valentine could hardly tell the difference.

"Having been to the World Trade Center, having recognized the design of the metal, what the doors were like coming in, the way the elevator looked, that was really surreal," he said.

Valentine described "The Walk" trailer that shows the camera panning up the tower like the film was "lifting it from the ground, pulling it from the ashes to retell the story." The entire movie really pays tribute to those buildings that fell in tragedy nearly 15 years ago.

"When you first see the Twin Towers in the movie, I think you're struck with this feeling of sadness, but what's great about the film is that it's a love letter to the Twin Towers," he said. "I said to someone recently, if I were the World Trade Center, this is how I'd want to be remembered with this positive, inspiring story."

To get into character as Barry, Valentine already had great source material from the documentary, but he also found a YouTube video of Greenhouse's retirement party in the late '90s. A rap performed by one of Greenhouse's co-workers gave Valentine the perfect character study.

"It was a rap about Barry's life and kind of who he was as a person and making fun of him a little bit... I learned so much about him just through that," Valentine explained. "Nobody else's retirement party was on YouTube. It was very strange. But it gave me was another perspective, another look at him and his colleagues."

One part of Barry's look that Valentine couldn't pull off, and not for lack of trying, was the man's trademark handlebar mustache and Van Dyck beard. The actor had significant facial hair headed into his audition, but after weeks of waiting for a callback, he decided to shave it off. Then a day later, Zemeckis called him.

"Literally the next day, I get a phone call from Bob Zemeckis saying, 'Congratulations. We want to talk about your character.' Then he said, 'Just let your mustache keep growing,'" Valentine recalled.

He told the director his 'stache probably wouldn't be grown out enough by shooting, but Zemeckis had great faith in the actor's ability. Two months later, he arrived on set with little to show.

"Bob was remarkably composed, [but] so disappointed that I didn't have the mustache. I was like, 'I can't just grow it at will,'" he said, laughing.

The hair and makeup department grabbed mustaches from the most recent "X-Men" film to fill out Valentine's facial hair. He continued to grow his own mustache after the film wrapped and is now styling his own handlebar look.

"I grew the mustache for the premiere, and I saw Bob on the red carpet and he said, 'Oh you took a bit of the character home with you.' And I said, 'Not really, I just wanted to be recognized on the bloody red carpet! That's all,'" he said.

All of the actors wanted nothing more than to win over Zemeckis. "[It's] like looking to your dad and all you really want is his approval. You just want a pat on the shoulder and that's all you need. That's all you want because you respect him so much," he said.

Valentine spent much of the last eight years guest starring on a number of television shows after playing Dr. Nigel Townsend for six seasons on NBC's "Crossing Jordan." The flexible schedule has also allowed him to focus more on creating his own content as a writer and producer.

"Ideally, I want to act and produce, but really to create new content," he said. "And when you create new content, you create new industry, you create jobs and I love that. I saw that first hand on [Hallmark Channel's] 'The Gourmet Detective' [as an executive producer]. People have a living now. I love to be able to do that."

He's also developing a few series that incorporate his passion for magic, including a show about a magician in the CIA. The idea is based on the intelligence organization's actual use of magicians.

"The CIA is very much a place of deception and the techniques of magicians are very useful for spies," Valentine said. "The great thing about the CIA show is that the consultant for my series is a former deputy director of the CIA. So I've got as much inside scoop as he's willing to give me."

Valentine has started to share his love of magic with his 4-year-old daughter. He took her to a kids' magic camp in Canada last year and she's already trying her hand at the craft.

"She does magic shows now. None of the tricks make any sense, but she understands that magic is procedure so she will do a trick and be like, 'Okay, I'm going to put this thing here and this thing here and take this thing and put it here and throw it over my shoulder when no one's looking and make it vanish,'" the proud father said.

Starring in "The Walk" was a rare opportunity that Valentine knows doesn't come along often. He wants his fellow actors to know that if it can happen for him, it can happen for them if they continue to put the work in.

"When you're an actor in this town, you go out to a lot of auditions. You work and work... So that rare occasion, when you audition for something you really, really want, and you get that call that you're the director's number one choice, it's the greatest feeling in the world," he concluded.

"The Walk" stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit alongside Charlotte Le Bon and Ben Kingsley. It's now playing in theaters.