Trailer debut: How 'Batkid' begat a miracle
Miles Scott captured billions of hearts worldwide on Nov. 15, 2013, when the 5-year-old, in remission from leukemia, donned his Batkid suit to save San Francisco.
More than 25,000 people crowded the city's streets to take part in Miles' Make-A-Wish dream to be his favorite superhero for a day. An estimated 2 billion people followed his heroics on social media. Even President Obama congratulated Miles for his crime-fighting with a Vine message.
Now the legendary pint-sized superhero is hitting the big screen in Batkid Begins, which premieres its theatrical trailer today at usatoday.com. The documentary opens June 26 in select cities before expanding nationwide throughout July.
This time, Batkid's fans are getting the whole story.
"That event rocked my world," says Batkid Begins director/producer and co-writer Dana Nachman. "People saw bits and pieces of this day and fell in love with Miles and the people who made it happen. My goal is to take you behind-the-scenes and see how and why it happened."
Miles, who was diagnosed with leukemia at 18 months, grew up on his family's farm in Tulelake, Calif., loving the Adam West Batman TV series like his dad.
When the child neared the end of his treatment, his parents, Nick and Natalie Scott, approached Make-A-Wish and asked if the foundation could make their son "the real Batman."
"Because he's my favorite superhero," Miles says simply in the film.
Organizers hoped 200 people would show up to make the dream seem real. But the response was so great that police were forced to make the journey a parade route as Miles zipped from location to location — saving a damsel in distress, stopping the Riddler and capturing the Penguin at AT&T Park.
At the end of the day, he received the keys to the city from grateful San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.
The voluminous footage shot that day is supplemented with interviews with key participants, including Make-A-Wish's Greater Bay Area Executive Director Patricia Wilson and Eric Johnston, who played Batman, as well as Scott's mom and dad.
"His parents are still surprised. It's very surreal, for everyone involved," says Nachman. "They are amazed and humbled that so many people would come out just to make their son happy."
Miles, now 6 and cancer-free, plays local Little League and remains confident that he saved the city.
"He is very matter-of-fact about it. 'I went to San Francisco, that's where Gotham City is, and I stopped the Riddler,' " says Nachman. "He's still very much in the part when he discusses it."
Julia Roberts plans to produce and star in a movie based on Batkid Begins, keeping the feel-good memory alive.
"When I screen it now, people are always smiling and laughing," says Nachman. "I hope to take the amazing feeling of that day and have it live on forever. I hope this movie achieves that."
