10 Things You Didn’t Know About Total Recall

By Daniel Mumby / July 27, 2012

Before the ending of Inception left us all wondering whether everything we€™d seen was a dream, Paul Verhoeven was doing something similar with Total Recall €“ only he did it with a three-breasted woman from Mars. So, to mark the release of the forthcoming Total Recall remake starring Colin Farrell (opening August 3rd in the US and August 29th in the UK), here are ten things you (probably) didn€™t know about Verhoeven€™s ultra-violent sci-fi spectacular.

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger was Not the First Choice for Quaid

Although it€™s now hailed as one of his best performances, Arnie was not first in line to play the lead in Total Recall. When the project began to gather speed in the mid-1980s, producer Dino De Laurentiis wanted to cast Jaws star Richard Dreyfuss; this fell through when De Laurentiis abandoned the project falling the commercial failure of Dune, helmed by David Lynch. Other actors considered for the role were William Hurt, just after his Oscar win for Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Patrick Swayze after Dirty Dancing became a huge hit. When this too fell apart, Schwarzenegger effectively cast himself when he persuaded Caralco to buy the project on the cheap and use him as a bargaining chip to bring in other talent. Click "next" below to read the next entry...