'Batkid Begins' Brings the Story of San Francisco Superhero to the Big Screen

Documentary tells the story of how a five-year-old superhero "saved" SF.

ByABC News
July 28, 2014, 2:01 PM
Miles Scott, dressed as Batkid, second from left, raises his arm next to Batman at a rally outside of City Hall with Mayor Ed Lee, left, and his father Nick and brother Clayton, at right, in San Francisco, Nov. 15, 2013.
Miles Scott, dressed as Batkid, second from left, raises his arm next to Batman at a rally outside of City Hall with Mayor Ed Lee, left, and his father Nick and brother Clayton, at right, in San Francisco, Nov. 15, 2013.
Jeff Chiu/AP Photo

— -- Now, more than ever, the world could use a superhero.

In November, the city of San Francisco got one. His name is Miles Scott and he had yet to start kindergarten.

Thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the participation of thousands of enthusiastic locals, 5-year-old Miles, who had recently completed chemotherapy treatment for leukemia, spent that fall day racing through city streets to rescue damsels in distress, disarm explosives and defeat his arch-nemeses.

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Over 7,000 onlookers came out to cheer Miles on as he patrolled San Francisco in a pint-sized Batman outfit. More than 400,000 people participated in the unprecedented phenomenon on Twitter. Ben Affleck, who is slated to appear as the caped crusader in the upcoming "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" movie, deemed Miles the "[b]est batman ever." The San Francisco Chronicle produced a special edition of the daily paper to herald his heroism. Even President Obama expressed his gratitude: "Way to go, Miles. Way to save Gotham," he said on Vine.

But while the raw footage captivated the nation, filmmaker Dana Nachman wanted to go behind the scenes to find out more. Nachman has been working on a documentary since January. On Sunday, she premiered the trailer for "Batkid Begins" at Comic-Con.

"There's a lot of reasons not to do things that are crazy and big," Nachman told ABC News. "But here were a lot of people who said, 'Let's not be safe for a day. Let's go crazy and be a little absurd.'"

Nachman cited the spirit of creativity that is characteristic of the City by the Bay as a possible explanation for the reaction that the spectacle prompted.

"It was this big fantasy for everybody," Nachman said. "It was as much a fantasy for everybody on the ground as it was for Miles."

The project has launched an Indiegogo campaign on July 15 to help finance the feature film. Over the next three weeks, it hopes to raise $100,000. Nachman plans to finish a rough cut of the movie in time to coincide with the anniversary of the event.