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by Jeff Ames Posted:November 13th, 2010 at 2:37 am
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In the long line of 80s-films-that-probably-have-no-reason-to-be-remade is Len Wiseman’s (Live Free or Die Hard) update on the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”, better known as Total Recall. According to Variety, Sony has offered the lead role to none other than Colin Farrell (In Bruges), suggesting Wiseman and the studio are planning a decidedly different take on Dick’s original concept. Farrell has been rumored for the role for a few weeks now, along with Tom Hardy (Inception) and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds). Farrell previously appeared in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report which was based on the Philip K. Dick story “The Minority Report”.
As most of you probably know, the original Total Recall starred a pre-Terminator 2 Ah-nold Schwarzenegger, along with a very sexy Sharon Stone, and was directed by Paul Verhoeven as only Paul Verhoeven can direct – i.e., lots of violence, sex and gore. The 1990 film was a critical and box office success, and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (Special Achievement Award).
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Related Links
- New Images from TOTAL RECALL Starring Colin Farrell and Jessica Biel
- Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale Talk TOTAL RECALL Characters Plus Behind-the-Scenes Footage in this Featurette
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- Comic-Con 2011: TOTAL RECALL Panel Recap
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Why??? The first one still holds up and all the surprises are spoiled.
Remember “…a dicidedly different take”. Get ready to take all those great suprises and and fond memories and throw them out the pressure dome.
“…a decidedly different take” Oh shit, here we go again. If you want to do a remake fine, but at least keep what made the original great. Change a few things fine, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it! I like the original lumps and all.
It is not necessary to remake this movie. Less ideas for films these days I guess.
Remakes are part of the business. Studios love them some brand recognition. Farrell is a solid choice, Wiseman is not.
Just because people have been making remakes for decades doesn’t make it right. Let’s have some new movies, for crying out loud! Producers/studios seem to have become exceptionally lazy and cowardly this past decade, over-reliant on brand recognition as you say. I’m sick of it.
As long as people continue to pay money to go see remakes, they will continue to crank them out. Right or wrong is kind of irrelevant. Comes down to dollars.
I don’t dispute the fact that it’s all about money – as I said, it’s laziness and cowardice; they’re too afraid of taking a risk on something new and would rather take the easy money. The sheer volume of remakes, reboots and reimaginings is wrong, and from a film fan’s perspective, that’s relevant. We need to send a message to the studios by not giving them our money, making these cash-ins fail at the box office. But as you suggest, that sadly is unlikely to happen, as morons keep paying to see these things. Seriously, if anyone reading this article is interested in it, just rent Total Recall or read Dick’s short story – or both – instead! We don’t need another version.
A solid choice? He’s not an ‘action star’ by any means..so wtf kinda movie is this gonna be? BAD choice…
Solid choice because he is a good actor. I’ll take a good actor over an ‘action star’ any day of the week.
Thank you Jeff for being the first online blogger/critic I’ve seen to heap praise on the original film. Most websites I’ve visited seem to be falling over themselves to run it into the ground (primarily because it stars Ahnuld) and try to justify the need for this pointless remake of a genre classic. I don’t care if they somehow managed to reanimate Laurence Olivier or Marlon Brando for the lead, there’s no way in hell that Len Wiseman can direct a better film than Paul Verhoeven (I’m including the camptastic Showgirls in that assessment too).
I love the original “Total Recall” and Arnold has to be it…Collin Farrell, well he can be good for the part 2 and that should be happen even further out into future! Don’t remake the classic, just make Total Recall 2!
They should just can this remake and wait until the Crank franchise gets to it’s third or 4th sequel and just send Chev Chelios to Mars in the future. That’s as close to a remake as anyone should get for Total Recall.
The original is one of my love/hate favorites. At different times since its original release I’ve gone back and forth. The problem is that it’s hopelessly dated, everyone. Arnold’s acting especially during the crucial beginning where we are supposed to connect to the characters is *sigh* well, it’s very, very poor.
Now, there is a no holds barred pace and attitude that erupts in this movie that was previously unmatched. Loved that, and the story was just twilight zone-y enough to overlook the remarkably cheesy nature of some elements (a Verhoeven earmark).
All in all, I don’t see much of a problem with a remake here. Whatever this new one is, it won’t erase the charm of the original and so few people are going to go back to the old one that a remake could only increase the number of curious people. Right?
I’m not huge on remakes, but this seems okay to me. Len Wisemen needs a great script, imho, and if he gets it, I don’t see why this new movie couldn’t be successful and a good movie to boot.
The Arnold film was a lot of fun, but about 90% different than Dick’s story. Now we get, “… suggesting Wiseman and the studio are planning a decidedly different take on Dick’s original concept.” So what are we supposed to be expecting?
Meh.