When film producer and avid comic book fan Michael Uslan bought the rights to Batman in 1979, he envisioned a darker, more brooding alternative to the campy caped crusader television show of the late 1960s.

Upon seeing a picture from The Shining in a 1980 New York Post article, Uslan grabbed some markers and a bottle of white out and painted the visage of The Joker overtop Nicholson’s iconic “Here’s Johnny” freakout. (continue reading)

Uslan took the image with him to studio meetings to help pitch his vision for a new breed of Batman film. Nearly a decade later, that vision finally made it to the screen…with Nicholson playing The Joker.

Thanks to the awesome blog Kino Images for the pic.