12 Iconic Movie Characters Who Were Disastrously Recast
7. Douglas Quaid - Colin Farrell
The Film: Total Recall (2012)
In The Original: Arnold Schwarzenegger
The original Total Recall works as a claustrophobic sci-fi thriller precisely because of the frantic intensity of Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance. He spends the movie hovering on the edge of total breakdown as his grip on reality is revealed to be completely, increasingly wrong and that all comes down to Arnie's cartoonish, exotic instability. He's arguably more alien than even the most outrageously designed characters he encounters.
In stark contrast, when Colin Farrell took over the role, he was seemingly encouraged to cut down on the delightful bug-eyed weirdness of Schwarzenegger's Quaid, instead delivering a paint-by-numbers, bland action lead. And since Farrell has proved himself far better in more colourful roles, the inevitable boringness should have been predictable.
Farrell's take on the character is a poor imitation and one that isn't fit to shine the original Quaid's boots.