Stories by @nathanbates

Sidney Lumet’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1976)

What if Sidney Lumet had adapted the controversial novel nearly a decade before Martin Scorsese?

The Big Goodbye

The non-fiction book tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 1974 film noir classic starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. From Roman Polanski’s directing and Robert Towne’s Oscar-winning script to the twist ending that shook filmgoers to their core, Chinatown joined the long list of films to make their mark during the 1970s. Looming over the story of the classic movie is the imminent eclipse of the ’70s filmmaker-friendly studios as they gave way to the corporate Hollywood we know today.

Batman ‘76

It is 1976 in Gotham and the color has faded somewhat. Lost in an age of newer, younger, tougher vigilantes, the caped crusader worries his decade of crime fighting will have been worth very little in the end. Having been since abandoned by his ward, Dick Grayson, Bruce takes in the thoroughly modern Jason Todd and brandishes him the new Robin. The increasingly deluded hero is then led astray by his new companion and begins to suspect The United Underworld (it’s former members now mostly reformed) is up to their latest, most heinous of plots.

The Batman (1982)

What if it had been released 40 years earlier? (Don’t judge me, some of you are already recasting this for 2032.)

The Shinning

Shh! You want to get sued?

The Blood of Dracula

1490. Nearly 3 decades after the vanquishing Count Dracula, a strange presence begins haunting the widow Harker. Soon thereafter, her son, Quincey, returns to her side but is left baffled and terrified as his mother seemingly spirals into madness by the day. With no one left to turn to but the elderly Dr. Van Helsing, Quincey will learn that Dracula’s legacy very much lives on and is more malevolent and seductive than ever before.

You Are Here

The Hollywood fable takes an unexpected and nightmarish turn through the eyes of one Thomas Wiseau, plagued by delusions of grandeur and the ghosts of acting past.

Strange Days (2020)

A former cop turned street-hustler accidentally uncovers a conspiracy in Los Angeles in 1999.

Birds of Prey (1985)

What if the DCEU movie had been made 35 years earlier?

BioShock

After surviving a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a lone man discovers the ruins of the underwater city of Rapture, a once-thriving objectivist utopia brought down by socio-political strife and whose inhabitants have since turned into crazed monsters called “Splicers.” While seeking a way out of the city, the man, Jack, delves deeper into the city’s many mysteries, chief among them being the city’s founder, Andrew Ryan.