Back in 1990, Arnold Schwarzenegger stared in a sci fi movie title Total Recall, which was based upon a book by classic author Phillip K. Dick [the same guy who wrote the book for "I, Robot"]. In this futuristic feature, a construction worker named Douglas Quaid [played by Arnold] is relocated from Mars to Earth and after he recovers from some sort of amnesia, he becomes a freedom fighter and travels back to mars, where he strives to liberate a colony on that planet from an evil narcissistic dictator.
The thing is, Douglas is NOT a Martian... he's a poor hard-working guy with bulging muscles who just wants a vacation. So at the onset of the movie, he goes to a company called Rekall, and requests that they provide an induced memory program for his mind, which will give him the vacation of his dreams.
At the dream induction center of Rekall corp, Douglas pays for a Mars experience, including aspects of being a secret agent and discovering alien artifacts. When Rekall reps attempt to implant the memories, they find he already appears to have undergone a previous memory replacement procedure. Something happens to Douglas' mind amidst the procedures.... and suddenly, believing himself to be a secret agent whose cover has just been blown, Douglas attacks the medical staff until he is sedated. They quickly restore his memory (undoing Rekall's changes only; Quaid still has his previous false memories) and send him home.
He's attacked on his way home by mysterious bad guys [sponsored by a guy named Richter]. When he gets home, he finds out that his wife, Lori, and other goons are out to kill him. Douglas subdues Lori and she makes confessions to him, informing him that his life has been a lie for the past 2 months, based upon false memories.
Douglas Quaid escapes his home, pursued by Richter, and eventually encounters a man that claims to be a former friend and gives him a briefcase. A tool inside the box allows Douglas to remove a tracking device implanted in his skull, throwing Richter off track. The briefcase also contains a prerecorded video of himself with identity revelations; however, in this video, Douglas calls himself "Hauser", revealing that he used to work for an evil Mars administrator named Vilos Cohaagen, but he [Hauser] went undercover and implanted the "Douglas Quaid" personality to cover his tracks. The video of Hauser insists that Quaid should travel to Mars and deliver the information stored in his mind to the authorities to bring down Cohaagen.
And thus the expedition back to Mars begins, and all hell breaks loose.
This fan-made trailer by AlexFruen on Youtube was expertly done, and it will give you visual summary of what I've described thus far.
At the very end, Douglas defeats Cohaagen, but there is no "dream resolution scene"... so fans really are left in the dark about what part of the whole thing is just the imagined vacation, and what segments are actually real.
The Forthcoming Total Recall Remake!
Now, fast-forward about 10 years into the future, from the launch of that movie. And the word is a reboot of that high-octane sci fi feature is moving forward steadily, with casting rumors flooding the web.
Actually, a sequel was written in the late 90s, titled Total Recall 2 and it was roughly based upon a book titled The Minority Report, [which was also authored by Phillip K. Dick]. that movie never materialized with Arnold at the helm. Instead, Tom Cruise got the role and a heavily rewritten script. And that movie directed by Steven Spielberg did very well in 2002.
But in 2009, it was announced that Columbia Pictures had hired Kurt Wimmer to write a script for the remake [and not a sequel] of Total Recall.
And as of Thursday, October 21, 2010, Hollywoodreporter.com has stated tat Colin Farrel is the guy at the top of the list to star as Douglas Quaid. Runners up for the lead role are Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender.
Colin [Irish dude] stared in Alexander back in 2004. Tom Hardy [a cool british dude] recently co-stared in Inception, in 2010. And Michael [another Irish dude] stared most recently in Inglorious Bastards. He was also in the movie 300 [as the soldier named Stelios], and he will star in Xmen: First Class [as the young Magneto].
If you pay attention to male phenotypes and trained physical builds, you'll note that Colin is the least muscular guy of the three choices, yet he was given priority in playing a role that was immortalized by Arnold Schwarzenegger....
Here is a featurette clip from the movie Inception. To see Tom Hardy in action, focus on the section titled "The Forger", and look for the guy with a British accent.
Anyway, Colin hasn't signed on the dotted line just yet. He's just the first choice thus far. No offers have been made for anyone to star in the movie, which is looking at a late March 2011 filming start with Len Wiseman directing behind the camera, and Neal Moritz and his Original Film banner producing.
We will keep an eye on this one and see how things pan out.
**EDIT - UPDATED MOVIE NEWS**
As of April 2011, Colin Farrell is fully on-board to star in the Total Recall remake. And at the San Diego Comic Con held in July 2011, there was a display in the convention center showcasing some of the cool props from the forthcoming movie [which according to the director, will have some distinctions in its plot and the focal nations that distinguish it from the previous tale that was set primarily on Mars]. Here are pics from that presentation and the last image showcases Collin Farrell and the rest of the main cast.
According to reports from Geektyrant.com, "...The preview footage they showed [at the 2011 Comic Con this year] feels like it's a mix of Blade Runner,The Matrix, with a touch of Minority Report, the level of detail is staggering..."
"...The director Len Wiseman shares that he loves shooting things in camera verses going it CG. Even the anamatics they displayed were very visually rich and highly detailed..."