2. David Cronenberg was Down to Direct
After De Laurentiis abandoned Total Recall in 1984, David Cronenberg became interested in the project and began collaborating with screenwriters Ron Shusett and Dan OBannon (more on them later). Cronenberg was at an interesting point in his career, having flirted with commercial success on The Dead Zone (a Stephen King adaptation) while retaining his place in the body horror genre with Videodrome. Cronenberg worked with Shusett and OBannon for 12 months, during which time the idea of Mars creating a race of mutants was integrated into the script. Cronenberg eventually left the project due to artistic differences and went off to make The Fly instead.