Tom Mankiewicz completed a script titled "The Batman" in June 1983, focusing on Batman and Dick Grayson's origins, with the Joker and Rupert Thorne as villains, and Silver St. Cloud as the romantic interest. Mankiewicz took inspiration from Steve Englehart's and Marshall Rogers's 1970s run in Detective Comics (later reprinted in the trade paperback "Batman: Strange Apparitions"), (), with Rogers himself being hired to provide concept art. "The Batman" was then announced in late 1983 for a mid-1985 release date on a budget of $20 million. Originally, Mankiewicz had wanted an unknown actor for Batman, William Holden for James Gordon, David Niven as Alfred Pennyworth and Peter O'Toole as the Penguin, who Mankiewicz wanted to portray as a mobster with low body temperature. Holden died in 1981 and Niven in 1983, so this would never come to pass. A number of filmmakers were attached to Mankiewicz' script, including Ivan Reitman and Joe Dante. Reitman wanted to cast Bill Murray as Batman. Eddie Murphy and Michael J. Fox were candidates for the role of Robin. Nine rewrites were performed by nine separate writers. Most of them were based on "Strange Apparitions". However, Mankiewicz's script was still being used to guide the project.