MARS-LESS TOTAL RECALL REMAKE GETS ITS KUATO

Blergh. I don't think I like anything about this.

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Originally Posted by stelios 

Blergh. I don't think I like anything about this.

Not even Crantson?

What's the point? You could have a re-animated Laurence Olivier playing in this and it would still bear the stink of Wiseman.

It sounds different enough that they should have just changed the character names and given it a title closer to Dicks story and ran with it. With characters walking around with names like Quaid, Cohagon and Quatto, surely that's just going to confuse people.

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Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

It sounds different enough that they should have just changed the character names and given it a title closer to Dicks story and ran with it. With characters walking around with names like Quaid, Cohagon and Quatto, surely that's just going to confuse people.

I agree. If it's more based on the book than a remake, then why use the title (besides exploiting name familiarity)?

Oh, and BTW, this production smells like PAYCHECK to me.
 

I blame this and the re-naming of John Carter of Mars on the failure of Mars Needs Moms!

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Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

I blame this and the re-naming of John Carter of Mars on the failure of Mars Needs Moms!

But I'm sure it's done wonders for the porn industry. Anyone see MARS NEED MILFS?
 

This had to go somewhere.

Here's footage of the new Kuato (might be fake):

With the recent trend towards shorter names (I guess it's more on TV, but this happens with movies too), I imagined it being called "Wholesale". Giving it the same name as the original movie, when the original movie was based on a book with a completely different name, is stupid. 

"See you at the party, Richter"

There is no chance in hell this will be any good. They might redo Raw Deal, Red Heat or Twins, but any of the later action bits solely relied on Arnie. You can't do Predator with Jason Statham. Same for Stallone, you can't do Colin Farrell as Demolition Man. And we all know the lovely trash aspect will be gone: no cab bot, no three titted chick, no Kuato. As Expendables proved, not even veteran Stallone was able to recreate the feel of those times.

So hopefully this ventures far away from the original and becomes something entirely else.

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Originally Posted by Chris Myers 

You can't do Predator with Jason Statham.

Howbout with Adrian Brody and Topher Grace? zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I remember when I first saw Total Recall and my friend mentioned that they originally wanted Jeff Goldblum for the lead, back when it was a more serious-minded sci-fi effort and less of a batshit crazy actioner. I said that could've turned out well, and he got mad because he said that everything good about Total Recall lies in the fact that it is so fucking unhinged. We were both right, I think -- the confluence of Arnold and Verhoeven made both a wholly original and unique experience that cannot be replicated and a movie you can never take completely seriously despite the story's potential for seriousness (pretentiousness maybe). I think audiences win in the end, since the original Total Recall is such a fucking blast and we don't really need a serious-minded Avatar-meets-Inception version of it.

But now it looks like we could get both, and I don't know what to make of it really. I guess I think it's gonna be shit.

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Originally Posted by JMulder 

I remember when I first saw Total Recall and my friend mentioned that they originally wanted Jeff Goldblum for the lead, back when it was a more serious-minded sci-fi effort and less of a batshit crazy actioner. I said that could've turned out well, and he got mad because he said that everything good about Total Recall lies in the fact that it is so fucking unhinged. We were both right, I think -- the confluence of Arnold and Verhoeven made both a wholly original and unique experience that cannot be replicated and a movie you can never take completely seriously despite the story's potential for seriousness (pretentiousness maybe). I think audiences win in the end, since the original Total Recall is such a fucking blast and we don't really need a serious-minded Avatar-meets-Inception version of it.

 

But now it looks like we could get both, and I don't know what to make of it really. I guess I think it's gonna be shit.

 

I say you're half right. I love Total Recall to death, however I would kill to see the version Cronenberg was prepping in the mid eighties. I've never heard Jeff Goldblum mentioned for Quaid, but I know Cronenberg was looking at William Hurt and Richard Dreyfus. As much as I love Arnie and Verhoeven, the film that Cronenberg was prepping something far more cerebral and it would have been more unclear as to whether it was all a dream or not, and needless to say Quaid was to be more of an everyman. Cronenberg apparently left the project because Ron Shusett, kept insisting that it be Raiders of the Lost Ark on Mars, and all of Cronenberg's drafts kept getting denied by Dino DeLaurentis. Eventually Paul Verhoeven was brought in and it worked out okay. 

No way this film is as good as Verhoven's nor will it be as interesting as Cronenberg's would have been. 

Oh yeah true, I forgot Cronenberg was gonna make Total Recall before Verhoeven -- although I imagine Cronenberg's version would not have been any less batshit and probably not that much different in the end. Obviously Arnold would be gone, the action reduced and the whole tone darkened considerably, but stuff like Kuato, the psychics, the woman-suit, and the nose-tracer feels so aggressively Cronenbergian that it's pretty hard to say his influence can't be seen in the finished film. I'm wondering if he repurposed many of his ideas for Total Recall into what would eventually become eXistenZ, considering all the thematic similarities... and I love me some eXistenZ, so I'm happy both movies exist.

Patrick Swayze was also one of the potential leads for the Cronenberg version.  I'm actually pretty sure he is the only lead that both the producer and Cronenberg agreed upon, as they shot down David's ideas of Dreyfuss and Hurt.

Anyway, the project never got off the ground and Arnold managed to snap it up for himself.  Arnold turned down Predator 2 to do Total Recall.  He would have played the role that was later retooled for Gary Busey.  Interestingly enough, Swayze was also the top contender for Predator 2 before having to drop out due to an injury sustained on another film.  Joel Silver eventually brought on Danny Glover when practically every action star in Hollywood turned down the film.

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Originally Posted by JMulder 

Oh yeah true, I forgot Cronenberg was gonna make Total Recall before Verhoeven -- although I imagine Cronenberg's version would not have been any less batshit and probably not that much different in the end. Obviously Arnold would be gone, the action reduced and the whole tone darkened considerably, but stuff like Kuato, the psychics, the woman-suit, and the nose-tracer feels so aggressively Cronenbergian that it's pretty hard to say his influence can't be seen in the finished film. I'm wondering if he repurposed many of his ideas for Total Recall into what would eventually become eXistenZ, considering all the thematic similarities... and I love me some eXistenZ, so I'm happy both movies exist.

I think it would have been more different than you think considering they were working from totally different scripts. I'm sure there would be similarities as they would both be based off the same short story, and I'm sure someone could write a pretty good essay comparing the films of Cronenberg and Verhoeven, however I can't help but think that Cronenberg's Total Recall would have been a remarkably different film. I can definitely dig some of Cronenberg's Total Recall ideas being distilled into eXistenz, as there are some undeniable similarities between the two concepts, with some Videodrome thrown in for good measure. 

I've got a book on Cronenberg that gives some details about what his version would have been like.  Might have to dig that out tomorrow.

It would be great if you could share some of those details, it'd be cool to hear what Cronenberg wanted to do with Dino de Laurentiis's $200 million bucks. Heh.

I will......................probably sometime tomorrow night.

Actually one of the things I like about the Arnie version is that it is a lot more ambiguous than people give it credit for.   Watch the film again, not only does Quaid get the adventure he wanted but the film even fades out to suggest he just became a vegetable.  You really can call it ether way. 

A Cronenberg TOTAL RECALL, great though it would have been, would have robbed the world of that Arnie/Verhoeven commentary. Maybe the two of them could get together and record a commentary for this Len Weisman mess whenever it surfaces

This wont have  Jerry Goldsmith to do the music either... another strike against it.