Julia Roberts To Produce, Star In Batkid Movie

Not even Oscar-winner Julia Roberts can resist Batkid fever. The actress and producer just closed a deal to adapt Batkid Begins, the Slamdance premiere documentary about the 5-year-old leukemia patient who got his wish to be a superhero granted when thousands of volunteers, and even President Obama, helped turn San Francisco into Gotham City for a day.

On November 15, 2013, youngster Miles Scott became the hero Gotham needed and deserved as 25,000 supporters across the city, and even more on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, tracked his heroics through a series of staged missions. The event culminated with Scott receiving the key to the city from Mayor Ed Lee and sparked media attention and more than 400K tweets in 117 countries, reaching over 1.84 billion social media users.

Roberts is attached to star in the feature remake as well as produce with her Red Om Films partners Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill. Batkid Begins director Dana Nachman will executive produce. Also aboard as executive producers are Submarine’s Josh Braun and Dan Braun, who are making the project the first title at Sub/Version, the brand new remake label they’ve launched 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.

Batkid-mania reignited after Deadline premiered the film’s first trailer during Comic-Con and unveiled its original poster by Star Wars artist Drew Struzan. The crowdfunded Batkid Begins premieres tomorrow at Slamdance in Park City, where CAA brokered the deal with Sub/Version. CAA first brought the project to Roberts and will represent the package.