Only a Canadian would make a superhero movie that's all about the sidekick.

"People tell me the movie's not Canadian -- but it's 100 per cent Canadian," says Toronto filmmaker Michael Sparaga, whose debut feature Sidekick premieres tonight at the Uptown at 7 p.m.

"Sure, I was raised on (George) Lucas and (Steven) Spielberg, but I also grew up on The Littlest Hobo and Danger Bay.

"Yeah, it might be an American genre -- it's a very American genre -- but it's also about the sidekick and that's very Canadian. I don't choose the hero, I choose the guy who fights next to the hero."

Sparaga calls Sidekick "the Scream of superhero movies" -- and if that sounds, not like a Canadian independent movie but a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, it soon will be. Focus Features, the company behind such films as The Constant Gardener, Lost in Translation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, recently purchased the rights to Sidekick so they can remake it.

"I sent them something that was beyond a rough cut -- no special effects, no sound effects. But just the basis of how the story would play out.

"I want to be a writer and I just wanted to get their feedback about what they thought of it."

Two months later, he got a call from Focus which loved the film so much they wanted to remake it since they only distribute larger-budget films, not indie sleepers such as Napoleon Dynamite or Clerks.

Now Sparaga has a contract with NBC/Universal -- which owns Focus -- and is rewriting his own script for the proposed U.S. remake. And he has retainedthe rights to his original film which he will take to the Idaho Film Festival after it has its North American premiere here in Calgary.

"I just worked two years on it. I want some time to go to the market with it."

Although Sparaga and most of his cast and crew -- who shot the film mostly on weekends -- will be in the city to attend the premiere, one actor who won't be is Daniel Baldwin.

'FAST-TALKING AND NERDY'

Baldwin, best known for Homicide: Life on the Street, plays a comic-book store owner in the movie. Sparaga explains Baldwin was in Toronto shooting a movie for Fox when "a friend of a friend" arranged a meeting between the actor and Sparaga.

Baldwin sparked to the script and agreed to play the minor role for two nights.

"He's awesome ... He's playing this nerdy comic-book store owner and he was like, 'You know I've only played cops and killers for the past 10 years -- sometimes a detective.' And we were like, 'You've got to be fast-talking and nerdy about comic books.' ...

"We always said we wanted to make the most Canadian movie ever and we wanted to get a Canadian actor for Chuck, the comic-book store owner. But Daniel could talk Canadian politics around anyone. He has a house in Vancouver, he's here all the time -- he loves Canada. He has a Canadian flag tattooed on his left leg. So we said, 'You're our token Canadian.' "

As Sparaga points out, they were able to land Baldwin because he was already in Toronto shooting the Fox project.

"He was staying in a condo they paid for and they'd paid to fly him out so all the things that would make it too expensive for us, it was all taken care of -- all we had to do was make sure he was well-fed.

"He'd drive himself to the set and my stepmom would be there with her homemade lasagna and he'd be like 'Thank you.' He was so well-mannered."