According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kurt Wimmer, writer/director of sci-fi action films Equilibrium and Ultraviolet has been tapped by Columbia pictures to pen the upcoming remake of Total Recall.
Wimmer will be trying to write a “contemporized adaptation” of “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”, the Philip K. Dick story that inspired the original Total Recall, which was directed by Paul Verhoeven (The Surrogate) and starred “Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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It seems crazy to me that some of you reading this are too young to have seen (or cared at all about) the original Total Recall. Here’s a quick rundown of the story for the uninitiated:
In the future, a restless construction worker named Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger in the original) pays “Rekall Inc.”, a company specializing in implanted memories, to implant him with a fictional memory of an epic adventure he had on Mars as a secret agent. When the company attempts to implant the false memory, they inadvertently unlock memories in Quaid’s mind that are not his own. When Quaid arrives home from the treatment, his friends, co-workers, even his wife (Sharon Stone in the original) are suddenly trying to kill him, forcing Quaid to go on the run.
A visit from a mysterious stranger with a briefcase reveals to Quaid that he was once “Hauser,” right-hand man to the ruthless oxygen-hording dictator of Mars, until a rebel girl convinced Hauser to switch sides and fight for the good guys. When his evil cohorts learned of Hauser’s betrayal, they erased his memory and set him up in his fake life as Quaid. By way of a recorded message, Hauser tells Quaid to “Get your ass to Mars” in order to save the day.
The rest of Total Recall was a pretty much a sci-fi action-fest best remembered for scenes like Schwarzenegger’s head swelling to cartoonish proportions as he nearly suffocates on the surface of Mars; a rebel leader with a very unique hiding spot; and, of course, the three-breasted woman.
Total Recall is still a sci-fi classic for many children of the 80’s like myself, so this news of a remake has been hard to swallow – another bad example of Hollywood’s current addiction to remakes.
The news that Wimmer is handling the script has me split down the middle: Equilibrium was a very underrated sci-fi film (Christian Bale is great in it), but Ultraviolet…not so great. Wimmer also wrote the Angelina Jolie spy-thriller Salt, which is currently filming – although that’s not exactly a sure indicator of greatness (definitely not last year’s Street Kings, also written by Wimmer). In fact, the only indisputable gem on Wimmer’s resume to date, IMHO, is his script for the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.
So far I’m still thumbs down on a Total Recall remake. Wimmer’s involvement does little to change that opinion either way. How about you, do you feel like a Total Recall remake is in any way a good thing?
The Total Recall remake is currently aiming for a 2011 release.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter via Slash Film
Thanks to Abram Sauer Online for the hilarious animated pic!
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21 Comments
Honestly … what can they improve on the original Total Recall?
I say nothing.
yeah no improvement needed here. just hollywood trying to get more money for themselves. another movie from when i was young to get ruined.
No improvement neccessary
Why can’t they do an original screenplay? I know there are tons of them out there waiting to be read by a production company.
I mean COME ON.
….or needed.
Well… Total Recall was only loosely based on “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale” so if Wimmer plans on adapting the short story, rather than remaking the old movie, I might be okay with this.
I’m not against remakes, like most people, but this is one of the few announcements that really has me confused. I’m trying to think of what could be improved, or even just updated, and the only thing I can think of is that the box-shaped cars are a little dated.
The rest of the movie stands up really well and doesn’t need to be remade.
Maybe it will be a prequel
Insane. The original’s not even twenty years old. Incidentally, that “jigglin’ Arnie” at the top of the page has caused me to throw a seizure and froth at the mouth every time I look at it.
Why don’t they just do a sequel? It was left in the air whether he actually went to Mars or it was some type of mental breakdown.
“See you at the party Rictor!”
Wimmer rules for just making Equilibrium, the one film that we can truly say that made Net Geeks recognize Christian Bale. Ultraviolet, the only thing good about that shyte was the costumes but I cannot believe I paid to see that pile of garbage.
If this is based on the original story then why even bother connecting it to another one of the King’s Classic films?
“Hahaha, you think this is the real Quaid? It is”
I’m not sure how any of you had enjoyed “Recall.” To me it was an awful, sub-par, and mediocre sci-fi flick. I welcome a remake.
Say NO to remake.
No.
Terrible idea! The original is classic. I have no problem with creating a different story (and different movie) based on the same story by Philip Dick. But don’t name it Total Recall!
Morons.
There’s pretty much no way that this can be better than the original.Sure,it will look better with all the supped up CG,but it’s just totally unnecessary.
Besides,there’s no way that the new cast can even come close to the original cast.
Great, Wimmer, Equilibrium was cool, but that’s his “formula.” He tried the SAME EXACT formula for Ultraviolet and it was completely stupid. Watch him try for the same stuff in Total Recall…
@Ash Ali, I respect your opinions but do reconsider about Total Recall. It is not a sub-par scifi flick, there are a lot of things going on in the film
For one it has shades of North By Northwest, this big mystery of who or what is Quaid. Then the whole backstory of a rebel revolt against a corporation run government, the effects of radiation with human/mutants, etc.
Also the biggest idea in Recall of whether everything is a dream or not, are we in a dream world or do we need to wake up. What is real? The Matrix surely borrowed HEAVILY from Recall, even down to the Red Pill!
Total Recall=Classic!
I’m in full agreement with ‘NO’ crowd.
The original is a classic – I can’t see a CG update accomplishing much.
Give me something new.
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