Remaking Recall

Unscripted Profile: Total Recall

No, the sense of déjà vu you’re feeling is not due to implanted memories. That trailer looked familiar because you have seen this film before (well, kinda). The Total Recall of 2012 is a remake of 1990’s Total Recall. So why do a remake? What’s different this time around? Will it be worth it? Let’s take a look in my very first Unscripted Profile…

The Background

Just about every movie ever made starts with the same thing, an idea written down a piece of paper. This singular page eventually grows and evolves until its anywhere from 100 to 200 pages long. We call this a script, and it is arguably the most important part of any film. Total Recall, however, is a project that actually began as a literary short story from Philip K. Dick, titled “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.”

In the short story, published in 1966 in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Douglas Quail is an ordinary man unable to afford a trip to Mars, who visits a company, REKAL Incorporated, to have memories of being a secret agent on Mars implanted into his mind. The implant attempt reveals Quail actually is an undercover government assassin. Quail’s handlers try to have him killed, but he escapes and attempts to have his memories replaced so they can never be read. I won’t spoil the ending of the short story, but you should check it out, because it is very interesting.

This tale was loosely adapted in 1990, when Paul Verhoeven directed Arnold Schwarzeneggar in Total Recall. Having acquired the film rights prior to production, Schwarzeneggar had the character of the protagonist, now named Quaid instead of Quail, changed from a mild-mannered accountant-type to a muscular construction worker. This was done to obviously fit Schwarzeneggar’s physique, but also because he liked the contrast of having a physically powerful character with a vulnerable mind.

The original Total Recall film has become a classic since its release (It has a 7.5/10 on IMDb.com and an 83% critics’ rating and a 70% audience rating on RottenTomatoes.com). While being one of the last major Hollywood blockbusters to widely use miniature effects, the film was also one of the first to have photo-real CGI, earning Total Recall a Special Achievement Award at the 1991 Academy Awards for Visual Effects. It was also nominated for two other technical Oscars (Best Sound, Best Effects/Sound Effects Editing).

And lastly, Total Recall was also an important film in the empowerment of female action movie characters. The fight between Sharon Stone’s character, Lori, and Rachel Ticotin’s character, Melina, was perhaps the first time in a feature film where two women fight each other normally, as opposed to having a “cat-fight,” according to director Paul Verhoeven, who instructed his team to choreograph the fight more like a martial arts fight between two warriors. Sharon Stone, in particular, worked so hard on the film that she was inducted into the Stuntwomen Association as an honorary member and inspired Verhoeven to write an entire movie about a strong and mysterious woman in which Stone then starred, Basic Instinct.

The Remake

It is unclear exactly why it was decided Total Recall needed a remake, aside from easy box office profits, but what is clear is that the film is going to be markedly different than the original film. To again start with the script, Kurt Wimmer, the writer/director of the fantastic Equilibrium and terrible Ultraviolet, drafted the screenplay for the remake, along with Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard, Unstoppable).

Wimmer has said that the new film will draw from both the novel and the movie. “The original film was great; I respect it a lot. I'm using a lot of the structure. We're also returning to the novel and we're making a hybrid.”

This is evidenced most strongly in the films setting, seeming to take place entirely on Earth and not at all on Mars, a change bringing the remake closer to its literary origins. The new Total Recall also seems intent on establishing a more heightened sense of realism. So say goodbye to the cheesy one-liners from a bodybuilder-turned-actor (turned-Governator).

Enter Colin Farrell. He’s obviously not as big as Arnold, but returns the character to a more ordinary person. And let’s face it, as fun as Scharzeneggar is, he’s not exactly known for his acting chops. Ferrell, on the other hand, has found acclaim from roles in phenomenal films like In Bruges and Crazy Heart. He also has already had a taste for Philip K. Dick adaptations, having co-starred with Tom Cruise in Minority Report back in 2002. Ferrell has yet to breakout as a headlining blockbuster star, but he’s proven he’s got the talent to carry a film. If Total Recall is well received, Ferrell will continue to see his renown grow.

On comparing his character with Schwarzeneggar’s, Farrell said at ComicCon that ''I loved Arnie in the original Total Recall, which was when I was 15 or 16. There were some funny one liners, there were some great action sequences and really fun performances from Arnie and Sharon Stone. So when I was approached about a new version I was dubious. But although the characters exist within the same story frame and are battling with the same conceptual elements, they're very different characters, and for me that was a relief.''

Farrell has joked about having to follow up The Terminator, saying that he thought about trying out an Austrian accent. In response to a question at ComicCon about what it was like to fill Arnie’s shoes, Farrel quickly quipped “Airy.” However, he seems to have taken quite seriously the matter of character development in the film. "Maybe I've spent a large portion of my life not knowing who I am," Farrell has said of connecting with Quaid. "Everything he held dear and close in his life is a fabrication. He's in a state of conscious shock for most of the film. Essentially, it becomes a source of liberation: He has to figure out what kind of man he wants to be."

Clearly Farrell’s Quaid is going to have a level of depth greater than any previous Quaid/Quail. So I think it’s safe to safe we can rest assured that Farrell will do justice to the material with his share of the film, giving us a more vulnerable and relatable protagonist. As Farrell has said, “My guy, I think, has a harder time understanding who he is because [while Arnie’s Quaid had some form of seemingly self-knowledge that he’s a spy]… The only thing [my guy] does recall is a feeling. He can’t remember anything that the mind has done, but he can remember a feeling and the feeling is very much in relation to the woman in his life, Melina.”

Speaking of which, Melina is played by the gorgeous Jessica Biel (The A-Team). Having originally auditioned for the role of Lori, Biel convinced director Len Wiseman to give her the role of Melina, wanting to stretch herself more creatively by taking a type of role she hadn’t really had before. "I sat by myself for a while and thought, 'You know what? I want to be the heartbeat of this movie. I want to be that person who's with Colin, going through it, getting involved in it… I wanted to experience more of the emotional connection of the character and of the film, and he agreed," Biel explained.

This allowed Kate Beckinsale, usually a sexy heroine on-screen, to also be cast against type as Lori, described by Wiseman as a “bitch-psycho wife.” As a real-life married couple, Wiseman told wife Beckinsale that she didn’t need the script as she had already “read” for the part. Scheduling conflicts almost prevented her from taking the role, to which Wiseman responded with a compromise cameo role for Beckinsale as the infamous three-breasted prostitute. (They’re a funny couple!) Luckily, the scheduling worked out and Beckinsale was able to be in the film.

Like Farrell, Biel has yet to be the headlining star in a blockbuster, so this will be an important role for her and one in which she will likely do well. Beckinsale, on the other hand, has led a number of Underworld films and will continue to fill the screen with her darkly serious yet still sexy vibe. This leaves Bryan Cranston as the bad guy, a role he is sure to hit out of park, having already proven himself a serious actor in tv’s Breaking Bad and the film Drive. Throw in some more famous people like Bill Nighy, Ethan Hawke, and John Cho as supporting characters and this is a promising cast who are undoubtedly looking to impress and continue to boost their Hollywood street cred as bonafide stars (aside from Nighy, a proven film master). My guess is that they will succeed.

Lastly, let us consider director Len Wiseman, a relatively new director, his only other directing credits being two of the four Underworld films and Live Free or Die Hard. So far his works have been met with mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike, so Wiseman too will be looking to prove himself with Total Recall. I’m confident in the actors he has assembled, but as for Wiseman himself, I’m still doubtful that he can deliver an entertaining and quality film much better than what he’s previously done. Especially considering that his screenwriters are also not yet known as consistently superior filmmakers.

That being said, the trailers look pretty good (although, isn't that the point of a trailer?) and I have to say that while I will never be one to ask for a remake, I’m not one to root against a movie and I’m hoping Total Recall soon joins The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises as one of the more entertaining films of summer 2012. We’ll find out this weekend.

And here's the trailer for the original Total Recall...

Research

http://www.contactmusic.com/news/colin-farrell-was-dubious-about-total-recall_1370961

http://screenrant.com/total-recall-interview-colin-farrell-jessica-biel-rob-179262/

http://movies.about.com/b/2010/07/20/kurt-wimmer-says-no-mars-in-total-recall-remake.htm

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/livefrom/post/2012/07/total-recall-the-good-the-bad-and-the-curvy/1#.UA23jlRLWSo

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1689623/kate-beckinsale-total-recall-comic-con.jhtml

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100802/trivia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Remember_It_for_You_Wholesale