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Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall Also Being Rebooted

by Alex Billington
February 26, 2009

When I was younger I remember hearing a lot about Total Recall and how insane the special effects were and how disgusting some of the scenes were (it originally got an X rating). It took me a while to finally watch it, after having been first inundated with all things Paul Verhoeven by way of Starship Troopers and RoboCop, and I wasn't that impressed. It was good fun and all, but it wasn't as brilliant as those two other Verhoeven sci-fi flicks. Lo and behold, its time has come, and now it's being remade. Power producer Neal H. Moritz is currently developing a "contemporary version" of Total Recall at Columbia Pictures.

Total Recall is one of only a handful of films (Blade Runner being another) based on a short story by sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" follows 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. The movie explores one of PKD's favorite topics, reality vs delusion, as audiences never knew whether or not the story was a dream.

No word on who will be adapting and updating the screenplay or who might direct, but Moritz did say that he hopes "advancements in technology and state-of-the-art visual effects can help tell the Recall story in a fresh way." Whereas our other writer Brandon was actually excited about seeing The NeverEnding Story remade, I'm just as excited about seeing Total Recall remade. Though I doubt it'll have the same gritty Paul Verhoeven look and visual effects, which are part of what make that movie a classic in my mind. Either way, I'm probably as excited to see this as I am to see the upcoming Clash of the Titans remake as well.

Explore tags: Movie News, Opinions

Vole

Total Recall was the first film I can remember seeing the awesome Michael Ironside in. Lets hope there's a role for him in the remake.
Mike

I don't need to nit-pick (or do I?) but shouldn't the title of this article read: 'Phillip K. Dick's Total Recall Also Being Rebooted'? Yes Verhoeven directed but hey, it's not his work. My oh my when will Hollywood start producing original productions instead of re-hashing everything. Shithouse.
Stevo

I find it really interesting that you wrote "one of only a handful of films (Blade Runner being another) based on a short story by sci-fi author Philip K. Dick". It just seems like a really weird statement to make. Like Dick didn't try hard enough to get books made into movies. Or like you are saying "yeah its by some guy... apparently he got a few of them made into movies or whatev". Philip K. Dick was a brilliant author. He made his own genre of sci fi. Dystopian futures laden with drugs with heavy delusion and often psychedelic themes. I remember hearing the Wat Bros. Talk about his influence on them while writing the Matrix. Only a handful of films? Total Recall (classic), Blade Runner (brilliant), Scanner Darkly (which was fucking awesome), Minority Report (also good), Paycheck (with Afflack), Imposter (it was meh), and even that shit sandwich Next (with Nick Cage and his horrid hair). Not to mention I understand that there are a few other of his works getting made into films in the coming years. The shear volume of works he had developed into movies (long after he was dead mind you) is absolutely staggering. He is almost as prolific as Stephen King and Stan Lee when it comes to movie adaptations of printed stories. And unlike Mr. King, most of his Library doesn't suck (though in Stephen Kings defense, he only really started to suck a few years ago). How bout credit, where credit is due.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

Stevo - What i meant about Philip K. Dick is that there were only 7 films based on his work. That's not a lot, not saying there are other authors with more, but it's not like every sci-fi film is a Philip K. Dick movie. They are few and fare between but I am a huge PKD fan and think he's as brilliant as you do.
http://www.salondelmal.com Dr. Malo

Maybe, you wasn't Impressed because you saw it after the others movies. Maybe you saw it with the contemporary "advancements in technology and state-of-the-art visual effects"- I See this movie back in the early 90s, when i was like Thirtheen, and it totally blown my mind. This is one of the best Arnold movies, period. A great sci-fi flick This remake will never ever give us a Three-tits girl again. And with that in mind, clearly this will totally suck!
DCompose

Are the gonna do that last scene where the head explodes in IMAX? What the fuck is going on here? FIND OUT, BILLINGTON.
Itri

Reboots ftl.
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/4120/sppunx06oa5.jpg Crapola

'Get ready for a surprise!' Why even bother remaking this? If the first one still comes on tv I usually would watch it.
Christopher M

If they're remaking Robocop I can understand why someone would also want to remake Total Recall...I doubt they'll end up getting a director of the caliber of Aronofsky though...
Christopher M

I'd rather they remake Minority Report but that's just me
joe

No more reboots!!
Ivanhoe Martin

"See you at the party Richter!" Best one liner ever. I'll give this one a shot.
http://www.youtube.com/snears Nick Sears

Quade....... I don't think anything after 1980 should be remade.
Voice of Reason

"COHAGEN, GIF DOZE PEEPLE AYRE!!!"
Dave Lister, J.M.C.

Total Remake... "see you at da pah-tee, Rick-da!"
Quaid

You also forget: "Consider dat a divorce!"
Tim "Cloverfield"

"Quade.....start the Reactor!"
Richard

Fuck these reboots, I love this movie, I just bought it on blu-ray. People need to get creative is Hollywood being run by Puff Daddy now or what?
Toucmyinfection

haha Wow I can just imagine the noises Arnold must be making in that pic... LMAO
lumière

'ged yur ass do marz' or, at least, to some form of creative writing class, so we don't have to put up with any more of this rehashed garbage. remake. the word is remake, and always has been. Total Recall without Ah-nuld? give it 10 years and they'll be remaking Cameron's original Terminator. Hollywood - 'Screw youuuuuuuuu!!!!'
http://Firstshowing.net The_Phantom

Haha. I think that this is funny cause I mentioned a couple months back when an abundunt of movies were getting rebooted. I said,"What are they going to make Total Recall now!" And now it's in the works. Same with "Preditor" Okay so now I predict that they are going to come up with the reboot idea of, "Valley of Gwangi" or "Cavemen" or both.
Richard

They should remake those since wtf are they, never heard of them, but seriously predator and total recall still have alot of love left to give.
http://www.elte.com/ Hand Knotted Rugs

I don't remember the "reality vs delusion" aspect being really big in the movie. Would be a cool mind bend if they can reintoduce that to this remake. Instead of just putting a new coat of paint on the Arnold version.
http://vincentstephenong.com/ Vincent Stephen-Ong

"Total Recall is one of only a handful of films (Blade Runner being another) based on a short story by sci-fi author Philip K. Dick." Um, what? A handful? Based on a short story? Errrr.... First of all, Blade Runner is based on a novel, not a short story. If we're going to include all movies based on works of PKD, short story or other, then the list, according to wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Films_2 ) is as follows: - "Blade Runner" based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (novel) - "Total Recall" based on "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (short story) - "Minority Report" based on "The Minority Report" (short story) - "Impostor" based on "Impostor" (short story) - "Screamers" based on "Second Variety" (short story) - "Paycheck" based "Paycheck" (short story) - "Confessions d'un Barjo" based on "Confessions of a Crap Artist" (novel) - "A Scanner Darkly" based on "A Scanner Darkly" (novel) - "Next" based on "The Golden Man" (short story) That is far more than a "handful". PKD's stories are some of the most commonly translated into other media like film- probably the most in the scifi genre. By comparison, Michael Crichton has 13 books converted to movies, which is not so far off from PKD's 9.
Fox

Even dead, PKD has much more stories translated to film, compared to, for example, Tolkien, JK Rowling, or Robert A. Heinlein of Starship Trooper's fame. You want a GREAT, NEW movie from PKD, that could be as great as Blade Runner ? Make Ubik.
ebbie

"Screwww youuuuuu!" How can they remake this movie? I love it as it is
discojellyfish

The need to remake or re-imagine Screamers. Crappy special effects, but it had potential.
wm

johnny cab
DoomCanoe

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!!! the never ending story news pissed me off but this is sooo much worse.
Jamie

Here we go again, another F**king remake. Alex you said when you where younger you heard about Total Recall. Man I saw this movie at the cinemas and at that time Arnold Schwarzenegger was the biggest movie star in the world. Recall was kick ass. I can understand you not seeing this because you where young and your watching it years late where special effects are now all done by computer. Off course you not going to love this movie. It's like me watching Casablanca now and saying that it's shit, because I'm comparing it to movies of today. Where as if I was living back during the second world war, i might of really liked it. Arnold Schwarzenegger was and still is the man. Next thing you are going to tell me that they are remaking The Running Man and that you think that it also sucked.
Vole

"Open your mind"
Richard

# 30 said exactly what I was too pissed off to actually write.
joe moms

This one's weird. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the sequel to this sat in development hell for so long that it was reincarnated as Minority report, execpt the foreseers were martians. Either way, leave this one alone. What made it great was the one liners ("get ya ahss to mazz," "See you at Zee paw-tee rick-taw" "We need to get zee people zee ayer"), over the top death & Gore and the chick with 3 boobies. I'd hate to see this remade. It was fine the first time around.
lando

"remakes reboots reimagining " are these the hottest new courses in film school???? I understand going with a safe bet franchise but this "re" phase is getting annoying! cant anyone create something unique and original anymore? It feels like Hollywood is going down the Jamaican dancehall route where 20 versions come out of the same damn song in each artists style...except now, they just remake the same movies over and over again.."Hey, this made lots of money once, lets do it again!!" and for fucks sake, stay the fuck away from redoing kurosawa movies!!!! stay away from the classics, they are the classics and dont need remaking..like most of the movies being remade!!!!
reaperslogic

If you going to remake Paul Verhoeven films Showgirls should be at the top of the list.