Julia Roberts will produce and star in a feature adaptation of the “Batkid” documentary Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard around the World. The doc, directed by Dana Nachman, is debuting at Slamdance Film Festival on Jan. 24, and follows the story of Miles Scott, a five-year-old boy diagnosed with leukemia who wanted to be Batman for a day.
The subsequent Make-A-Wish event turned into not only a citywide spectacle with over 25,000 San Francisco residents coming out to participate. Miles dressed up as Batman’s mini-sidekick, Batkid, and helped the Caped Crusader with several fun missions across the city. The event went viral on social media with more than 400,000 Tweets in 117 countries from 1.84 billion users. Batkid was even awarded the key to the city by Mayor Ed Lee.
The 5-year-old leukemia patient captured the world’s imagination last November when the Make-a-Wish foundation – along with thousands of volunteers (including President Obama) – helped transform San Francisco into Gotham City for a day.
Roberts will produce alongside partners Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill through their Red Om Films banner. Nachman will serve as executive producer with Josh and Dan Braun of Submarine under Submarine’s new remake label Sub/Version, which is launching at Sundance.
“It’s thrilling to me that Ms. Roberts and her team watched our film and were so moved by it that they want to dedicate their time and creative capital to make sure the widest audience possible will know and love Miles’ story and the spirit of this intimate special event that went global, as much as we do,” said Nachman.
CAA, which brought the project to Roberts, brokered the deal with Sub/Version and will represent the package.
