3. David Cronenberg Almost Directed Total Recall
David Cronenberg's is one of cinema's best and boldest auteurs, and at first glance,
Total Recall - eventually made by Paul Verhoeven - seems like a good match for the sex and body mutilation-obsessed Canadian. Originally Cronenberg set out to write a version based on Philip K. Dick's short story, but the studio eventually decided that they wanted something along the lines of "
Raiders of the Lost Ark on Mars" instead, and Cronenberg was shut out.
Would It Have Been Any Good? Verhoeven's
Total Recall is a brilliant exercise in sci-fi exploitation, and we wouldn't change it for the world. But Cronenberg would have likely crafted something equally as interesting (though not perhaps quite as bloody). Apparently the director envisioned a shape-shifting version of Kuato which transformed into a "phosphorescent vagina," which is absolutely something that Cronenberg would definitely conjure up. Now it kind of does seem like a missed opportunity, hm?