Thread by @ATRightMovies

TOTAL RECALL was released 34 years ago. The second-most expensive film ever made at the time, and among the most popular films of both Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the story behind the scenes is as bonkers as what we see on the screen…

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In 1974, screenwriter Ronald Shusett came across a short story by science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick. Published in 1966, the story was called We Can Remember It For You Wholesale and revolved around implanted memories. Shusett loved it and snapped up the rights.

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Shusett joined forces with his writing partner Dan O’Bannon and the two fleshed the story into a screenplay called Total Recall. However, studios said what they had written was “unfilmable”. As such, the two turned to an idea of O’Bannon’s, called Alien.

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Alien was released in 1979 as a huge success, and studios became interested in Total Recall again. In 1982, Shusett and O’Bannon sold their script to superproducer Dino De Laurentiis who brought in David Cronebnerg to direct.

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Cronenberg wrote 12 drafts of the script making it more of an adventure film in the style of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Shusett said to him “You know what you’ve done… you’ve made the Philip K. Dick version!” Citing creative differences, Cronenberg left the project to make The Fly.

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Some Cronenberg elements remained in the final film, including (maybe unsurprisingly for Cronenberg) the Martian mutants and the idea of the rebel leader, Kuato.

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De Laurentiis considered Lewis Teague and Richard Rush as replacements for Cronenberg, but eventually settled on Bruce Beresford, most well known for helming Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.

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Production began to motor. Sets were built in Australia and Patrick Swayze was in talks to play the lead of Doug Quaid. Then, disaster struck. The De Laurentiis Group filed for bankruptcy, the crew were all fired, and the script went into turnaround.

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Earlier, Arnold Schwarzenegger had been keen on playing Quaid but De Laurentiis turned him down. Seeing his chance now, Arnold swooped in and took the script to Mario Kassar at Carolco Pictures. Within 2 hours, Carolco had bought the rights to Total Recall.

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The deal Arnold signed with Carolco was – reportedly – that he would star in the film and be paid $11m and 15% of the film’s profits. He also insisted on having first choice of director. Having been impressed by RoboCop in 1987, Arnold hand-picked its director Paul Verhoeven.

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Arnold had reportedly been in the running to play RoboCop but had problems fitting into the famous suit, so Verhoeven had dropped the idea. He did want to work with Arnold though, so accepted the offer of Total Recall without hesitation.

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Philip K. Dick’s version of Quaid was as an everyman office worker. As such, Richard Dreyfuss and William Hurt had both been considered. When Arnold came in he said they should change the character’s occupation from office clerk to construction worker.

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Arnold injured himself during the shoot. Filming the scene where Quaid smashes a train window, the glass explosive misfired, injuring his hand. And filming the fight in the hotel room, Arnold broke his finger and had a cast fitted.

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In casting Quaid’s wife, Lori, Verhoeven considered martial arts expert Cynthia Rothrock. She said years later that she was told she didn’t get the part because some of her co-stars were concerned about being outshone by a female martial artist.

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Sharon Stone was cast and threw herself into the role, learning the fight choreography routines so she could perform them herself. Arnold called her “a female Terminator” and, after filming wrapped Stone was inducted into the Stunt Woman Association as an honorary member.

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In filming the opening where we see Quaid and Lori in bed, Verhoeven wanted Stone to show more skin, but she refused. And it was her performance as Lori that convinced Verhoeven she would be perfect to play the lead in his next film, Basic Instinct.

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In casting bad guy Richter, both Robert Davi and Kurtwood Smith turned the part down. Michael Ironside had came close to being cast as RoboCop, so Verhoeven turned to him to play Richter.

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Ironside injured himself during filming when he ran into actor Michael Champion and cracked his sternum. He couldn’t film for 3 weeks and had to borrow a brace made for NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett to help him get through filming.

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During production, Arnold noticed Ironside was on the phone a lot. He found out Ironside’s sister, Wendy, had cancer so Arnold took it upon himself to call her and give advice on exercises and her diet. Thankfully, she made a recovery.

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Arnold’s second love interest is Melina, played by Rachel Ticotin. At first, Verhoeven considered both Nicole Kidman and Alexandra Paul before settling on Ticotin.

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Ian Holm was considered for the role of main villain, Vilos Cohaagen, but Verhoeven plumped for Ronny Cox, who played a similar role in RoboCop. We also see pro tennis player Linda Howell briefly. She play’s Lori’s holographic tennis teacher.

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When Verhoeven came onto the film, 40 drafts of the script had already been written. In some versions, Quaid discovered he was an alien at the end of the film. Seeing work was needed, Verhoeven had Gary Goldman (Big Trouble In Little China) perform some rewrites.

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A trip to Mars was meant to be filmed and effects supervisor Eric Brevig created a miniature ship. But, because of budget limits, it was cut and Verhoeven came up with the “Get your ass to Mars” transition. Brevig’s team also built a huge miniature of the Martian landscape.

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The shot of Quaid traveling by train on Mars where we swoop over the Martian mountains was also going to be cut until Arnold stepped in. It was carried out by placing a 7 inch screen inside the model train and playing pre-recorded footage of Arnold on it.

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The X-ray scene in the film was an early form of CGI. However, there were problems with the software so it mostly ended up being drawn by hand. Arnold was used as a reference and had to wear a tennis ball on his head as a marker which, apparently, made him very suspicious.

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Verhoeven had worked with Rob Bottin previously on RoboCop, where Bottin created the iconic suit. They had not got on on that film but, when they saw the results, agreed to work together again on Total Recall. Verhoeven gave Bottin full freedom to make the mutants.

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The name Kuato came from “cuate”, Spanish for twin. Bottin designed Kuato, and said after the film came out he was approached on the street by people asking if actor Marshall Bell was a “real freak.”

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Marshall Bell had to sit in a makeup chair for 6 hours every day. The mutant part of Kuato was essentially a chest plate and the arms and mouth controlled by a team of 15 puppeteers.

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Movie composing legend Jerry Goldsmith was brought in to work on the score. He took some inspiration from Star Wars and Conan The Barbarian and said that despite studio criticism that “the movie had no theme” he thought Total recall to be among his best work.

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Verhoeven chose to film the opening scenes in Mexico City for its architecture. Many of the buildings there were designed in a style called New Brutalism: blocky buildings made of raw materials like concrete. Then when sets had to be built, they were designed to fit with New Brutalism.

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Eating and drinking the local food and water, all of the crew fell ill with food poisoning, except Arnold and Shusett. Shusett was a health nut so had been careful and, after a similar experience on Predator, Arnold had his food flown in specially from the US.

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Verhoeven was also struck down and was ill to the point he would have an ambulance on set at all times. In between takes, the paramedics would administer fluids and medication so he could keep directing in spite of being ill.

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The escalator chase scene was filmed in Mexico City's Chabacano subway. The only changes made were the signs, which were changed to English, and the names of stations were replaced. They also added TV screens into the carriages, something commonplace nowadays.

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Johnny Cab was voiced by Robert Picardo, and he was also the model for Johnny’s face. Rob Bottin had a mould of Picardo’s face from 1985 fantasy film Explorers, so was able to recycle that.

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Robert Picardo said to Verhoeven that Johnny should ask Quaid "Are you from out of town?" (because of Arnold’s accent) but Verhoeven said "No, no, no...you don't do that with Arnold!" Picardo suggested doing it as a joker for the crew, and Verhoeven again refused.

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The actress who plays Quaid when he’s disguised as the lady was called Priscilla Allen. We see her passport in that scene and it states her real name.

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Mary, the 3-breasted prostitute, was originally supposed to have 4 breasts. However, producers thought it looked like a cow's udders. Although it was all prosthetic, the actress Lycia Naff said she found the experience humiliating, and was almost in tears during the shoot.

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When filming the fight scene between Lori and Melina, Verhoeven asked second unit director Vic Armstrong to not choreograph the fight as a catfight but as a credible martial arts fight. Verhoeven later said this is the first film to have a real fight between two women.

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After Quaid shoots Lori, he famously says "Consider that a divorce." Dan O'Bannon said that the line was originally "Consider THIS a divorce" followed by Quaid shooting Lori. It was changed on set as they thought it seemed a bit too cold-blooded.

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The scene where Cohaagen cuts the air to Mars was initially shot with the mutants gasping for air. However, DP Jost Vacano thought it was unintentionally funny so suggested the actors lying quietly. He’d shot a similar scene in WWII classic Das Boot.

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In designing the reactor on Mars, Verhoeven and Production Designer William Sandell were inspired by a book of early 20th-century skyscrapers. Struggling for ideas, they threw the book on the floor and realised that, upside down, the skyscraper look was perfect.

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To shoot the scenes where Quaid, Melina and Cohaagen are exposed to the Martian atmosphere, puppets of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, and Ronny Cox were created and given the ability to stretch the skin and pop the eyes out.

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A trailer was quickly put together for the film’s release, but Arnold wasn’t happy. He thought it was weird and didn’t represent the film so pressured the studio to make a new one using clips of the action scenes. The original is below…

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3 weeks before the movie was released it had 43% public awareness, which Arnold called "absolutely disastrous". He convinced Carolco to pump in more money for marketing and, as a result, the movie opened with 99% public awareness.

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The original cut of the movie was given an X-rating by the MPAA for gory violence so some scenes were trimmed to get an R-rating. This included the moment Helm is stabbed by Thumbelina and also where Quaid kills a bunch of scientists towards the end.

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The initial budget for Total Recall was $30m but ended up ballooning to $65m, making it the second most expensive film ever at the time, after Rambo III. It took $261m at the box office so was a big hit and received a Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects Academy Award.

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There were plans to adapt another Philip K. Dick short story for a sequel called Total Recall 2: The Minority Report. That film eventually ended up in the hands of Steven Spielberg but as for the original, it remains popular today.

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If you liked our making of story behind TOTAL RECALL, please share the opening post 😀