Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Total Recall

5/26/11 - Bill Nighy is in negotiations to join the cast of Total Recall, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The film, which starts shooting in June in Toronto and will be directed by Len Wiseman, also stars Bryan Cranston as the villain, and Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel as the female leads. Ethan Hawke is on board for a cameo.  The movie ditches the Martian storyline from the original pic and instead involves nation states Euromerica and New Shanghai. Farrell plays Douglas Quaid, a factory worker in the latter who begins to believe he is a spy — although he doesn't know for which side.  Nighy will play Quatto, the leader of the resistance. (In the 1990 movie, the character, called Kuato, was played by Marshall Bell with the conceit that the leader was actually a small mutant living off the human.) 

5/10/11 - Ethan Hawke is boarding Total Recall, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The new story ditches the Martian storyline and instead involves nation states Euromerica and New Shanghai, with Douglas Quaid (Farrell) a factory worker in the latter who begins to believe he is a spy, although he doesn't know for which side.  Hawke’s role is being kept secret and it is cameo in nature.

5/3/11 - Variety reported that Bokeem Woodbine is in talks to join Sony's Total Recall starring Colin Farrell.  The film is a reboot of the 1990 Arnold Schwarznegger film that follows Douglas Quaid, a man who believes he is a secret agent on a Martian colony.  Woodbine would play Quaid's best friend who has a kind of big brother relationship with him.   

4/8/11 - Variety reported that Sony Pictures may be close to a deal with Jessica Biel in Total Recall.  In the original 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer, the femme leads were played by Sharon Stone, who played Lori, and Rachel Ticotin, who played Melina.  There was early buzz that Biel was going for the role of Melina but sources say there's a chance she going for the other character.  Len Wiseman will direct the latest version, with Farrell stepping into the Schwarzenegger role and Bryan Cranston attached to play the villain.  Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe will produce with Mark Bomback and James Vanderbilt penning the script.

3/30/11 - Bryan Cranston is negotiations to play the villain in a remake of Total Recall, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The new story involves nation states Euromerica and New Shanghai, with Douglas Quaid (Farrell) a factory worker in the latter who begins to believe he is a spy, although he doesn't know for which side.  Cranston would play Vilos Cohaagen (a role originally played by Ronny Cox), the leader of Euromerica who, under the cover of protecting his people, is secretly readying an invasion of New Shanghai. Len Wiseman will direct the Columbia project.

1/11/11 - Len Wiseman’s remake of Total Recall will be far different movie from the original,  Blastr.com reported.  The movie will remain truer to its source material, Philip K. Dick's novella "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." In an interview with MTV, actor Colin Farrell (who has taken the lead role as the memory-challenged Douglas Quail) said, "This is going back to the original short story. It's closer to the original short story."  Producer Neal Moritz said "The big difference is we don't go to space. Instead of it being a spaceship that takes us to another planet, there's something that takes us from one side of the planet to another that's really interesting."

12/23/10 - Columbia Pictures’ Total Recall reboot appears headed to Toronto for a late March 2011 shoot, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The modern remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring sci-fi flick looks set to shoot in the city’s giant Pinewood Toronto Studios.  Len Wiseman will direct Total Recall based on a script by Kurt Wimmer, with Neal H. Moritz producing through his Original Film banner. The project, based on the Philip K. Dick story, portrays a man haunted by a recurring dream of rocketing to Mars.  Pinewood Toronto Studios, with eight existing soundstages, is owned by a consortium that includes the city of Toronto, and is run by Pinewood Shepperton via a management contract.

7/29/10 - Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, presidents of Columbia Pictures, announced today that the studio is in final negotiations with Len Wiseman to direct "a new, contemporized adaptation" of Total Recall, Variety reported.  "I've always been fascinated with Philip K. Dick's short story," said Wiseman. "And I'm excited at that prospect of diving even deeper into the type of world it evokes and the questions it asks. I love that the most crucial mystery our character is trying to solve is the one of his own soul."  Tolmach added, "Len has an incredible love of the genre and a great gift for action. He'll bring a contemporary feel to the film while taking care with everything we love about Philip K. Dick's original story."

6/3/09 - Columbia Pictures has set Kurt Wimmer to write a new version of Total Recall for the proposed remake of the 1990 sci-fi action movie that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Variety reported.  The movie will be a contemporized adaptation of the science fiction saga based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale."  Total Recall was resurrected for remake earlier this year by the studio and producer Neal Moritz and his Original Films banner. Columbia secured remake rights from Miramax, which has the option to co-finance the film when it is ready to shoot.

2/26/09 - Total Recall—the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi action movie based on a Philip K. Dick story—may be headed for a remake, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Neal H. Moritz and his Original Films are in final negotiations to develop and produce for Columbia a contemporary version of the movie, which was originally directed by Paul Verhoeven.  The original, based on the Philip K. Dick story "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 that 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.  Moritz hopes the advancements in technology and state-of-the-art visual effects can help tell the Recall story in a fresh way.

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