This summer, we reported that director Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard) would be helming a remake of Paul Verhoeven's 1990 sci-fi flick Total Recall.  Heat Vision is now reporting that Colin Farrell, Tom Hardy, and Michael Fassbender are the frontrunners to star in the lead role, which was originally played by Arnold Schwarzeneggar.  I wonder if twenty years ago, folks thought this film would be remade by replacing the gigantic Austrian actor with a serious thespian from England or Ireland.

For those who haven't seen the original, it's based on Philip K. Dick's story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale", and (per HV) "followed a man haunted by a recurring dream of journeying to Mars who buys a literal dream vacation from a company called Rekall Inc., which sells implanted memories. The man comes to believe he is a secret agent and ends up on a Martian colony, where he fights to overthrow a despotic ruler controlling the production of air."  Mixed into that madness were women with three breasts, Kuato, and other greatness.  Hit the jump for more on the remake.

According to Heat Vision, the contemporary adaptation "will tackle one of Dick's favorite topics, reality vs. delusion, with audiences never knowing whether or not the movie was a dream."  That's how the first half of Verhoeven's flick plays and it's slightly disappointing when the film trashes that approach for the campy fun of the second-half.  Does this mean that screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (Law Abiding Citizen) and Wiseman are planning to keep that tone throughout the entire flick?

Farrell is reportedly the top choice to get the gig.  He recently wrapped shooting on the remake of Fright Night where he plays a villainous vampire and in the dark Horrible Bosses where he plays a horrible boss with an even worse comb-over.  He's currently set to star opposite Eric Bana in Sheldon Turner's crime drama By Virtue Fall.  That film is set to shoot in January while the remake of Total Recall is aiming to get cameras rolling in March.

Hardy and Fassbender are also keeping busy.  Hardy recently signed on for an unspecified role in Batman 3, which is slated to film in April.  As for Fassbender, he's set to reunite with his Hunger director Steve McQueen for Shame and costar in Jim Jarmusch's untitled next film.  While I'm not too high on Wimmer and Wiseman's involvement, landing any of these actors would be a great get for the production.