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Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, and Michael Ironside. The film is loosely based on the 1966 Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale".

The film tells the story of a construction worker who suddenly finds himself embroiled in espionage on Mars and unable to determine if the experiences are real or the result of memory implants. It was written by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, Jon Povill, and Gary Goldman, and won a Special Achievement Academy Award for its visual effects. The original score, composed by Jerry Goldsmith, won the BMI Film Music Award.

With a budget of $50–60 million, Total Recall was one of the most expensive films made at the time of its release, although estimates of its production budget vary and whether it ever actually held the record is not certain. The film grossed $261 million worldwide.

Plot

In 2084, Mars is a colonized world under the tyrannical regime of Vilos Cohaagen who controls the mining of valuable "turbinium" ore. On Earth, construction worker Douglas Quaid experiences recurring dreams about Mars and a mysterious woman. Intrigued, he visits Rekall—a company that implants realistic false memories—and chooses one that casts him as a Martian secret agent and includes alien technology and a blue sky on Mars. However, before the implant is completed Quaid lashes out, already thinking he is a Martian secret agent. Believing Cohaagen's "Agency" has suppressed Quaid's memories, the Rekall employees erase evidence of Quaid's visit and send him home.

En route, Quaid is attacked by men led by his work colleague Harry because Quaid unknowingly revealed his past; Quaid's instincts take over and he kills his assailants. At home, he is assaulted by his wife Lori who claims their marriage is a false memory implant, and the Agency assigned her to monitor Quaid. He flees but is pursued by armed men led by Richter, Cohaagen's operative and Lori's real husband. A man claiming to be Quaid's former acquaintance gifts him a suitcase containing supplies and a video recording in which Quaid identifies himself as Hauser, a Cohaagen ally who defected after falling in love. Cohaagen brainwashed Hauser to become Quaid and conceal his secrets before securing him on Earth. Hauser instructs Quaid to return to Mars and stop Cohaagen.

On Mars, Quaid evades Richter and, following a note from Hauser, travels to Venusville, a district populated by humans and those mutated as a result of poor air quality and radiation shielding. He meets Melina, the woman from his dreams, who knows him as Hauser and believes he is still working for Cohaagen. In his hotel room, Quaid is confronted by Lori and Dr. Edgemar from Rekall, who explains that Quaid is trapped in his fantasy memory and still at Rekall on Earth. Quaid notices Edgemar is sweating and, believing he is real, kills him. Quaid is captured by Richter's men, but Melina intervenes and rescues him; Quaid kills Lori to protect Melina. The pair escape with taxi driver Benny to Venusville.

The mutants lead them to the hidden rebel base where Quaid meets their leader, Kuato, a mutant growing out of the abdomen of his brother George. Kuato psychically reads Quaid's mind, learning that Cohaagen is hiding a 500,000-year-old alien reactor built into a mountain that once activated makes breathable air but could also destroy all turbinium, ending Cohaagen's monopoly over both resources. Benny shoots George, revealing himself to be in Cohaagen's employ, and Cohaagen's forces attack the base, killing the rebels. Kuato implores Quaid to start the reactor before Richter executes him. Cohaagens disables Venusville's air supply to slowly suffocate the remaining inhabitants.

Quaid and Melina are brought to Cohaagen who explains Hauser was his close friend who volunteered to become Quaid as an elaborate ruse to bypass the mutants' psychic abilities, infiltrate the rebellion, and destroy it. Quaid's Rekall visit had activated him earlier than planned and Cohaagen has been helping him to survive the oblivious Richter's pursuit. Cohaagen orders Hauser's memories to be restored in Quaid and Melina to be reprogrammed as his subservient lover, but they escape to the mines below the reactor. Benny, Richter, and his men attack them, but the pair outwit and kill them all.

Cohaagen awaits them in the reactor control room, claiming that it will destroy the planet. He activates an explosive but Quaid throws it down a tunnel, creating a breach to the Martian surface. The explosive decompression sucks Cohaagen out to the surface where he suffocates to death. Quaid activates the reactor before he and Melina are also sucked out. The reactor melts the planet's ice core into gas that bursts to the surface, forming a breathable atmosphere and saving Quaid, Melina, and the rest of Mars' population. As everyone beholds the blue sky, Quaid momentarily wonders if everything was a dream before he and Melina share a kiss.

Cast

• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid / Carl Hauser: An Earth-based construction worker with a hidden past
• Rachel Ticotin as Melina: A Martian freedom fighter
• Sharon Stone as Lori: Quaid's wife and a secret agent
• Ronny Cox as Vilos Cohaagen: The governor of the Martian colony
• Michael Ironside as Richter: Cohaagen's ruthless enforcer
• Marshall Bell as George / Kuato (voice): The mutant leader of the Martian resistance
• Michael Champion as Helm: Richter's right-hand man
• Mel Johnson Jr. as Benny: A Martian taxi driver
• Roy Brocksmith as Dr. Edgemar: A Rekall employee
• Rosemary Dunsmore as Dr. Renata Lull: A Rekall programmer

The Earth-based cast also features Ray Baker as Rekall salesman Bob McClane, Robert Costanzo as Harry, and Alexia Robinson as Tiffany. Robert Picardo provides the voice and visual likeness of Johnnycab, an automated taxi driver.

The Martian cast includes Lycia Naff as Mary, a mutant three-breasted prostitute, Marc Alaimo as Everett, Dean Norris as Tony, Debbie Lee Carrington as Thumbelina, Sasha Rionda as Mutant Child, Mickey Jones as Burly Miner, and Priscilla Allen as "fat lady".

Production

Early development

The development of Total Recall first began in 1974, when producer Ron Shusett purchased the rights to adapt science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick's 1966 short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" for $1,000. Shusett had read the 23-page story by the then-little-known pulp fiction writer in an April 1966 edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The story depicts a meek clerk named Quail who visits Rekall to receive a memory implant of being a secret agent on Mars. However, the process uncovers his true identity as a Martian secret agent whose death will bring about an alien invasion.

Giving it the title Total Recall, and renaming Quail to Quaid to avoid referencing then-vice President Dan Quayle, Shusett tasked writer Dan O'Bannon with helping turn the short story into a feature-length script. However, the story was both too short and ended abruptly, and O'Bannon found he had exhausted the material after writing 30 script pages—effectively only the first act. An original second and third act narrative had to be written; O'Bannon suggested sending Quaid to Mars. The pair struggled to form the third act; Shusett wanted a more dramatic ending and O'Bannon disagreed. The pair never compromised on the ending, and O'Bannon later described the filmed ending as "lame". Shusett never met Dick in person, but the author read their script before his death in 1982 and, according to O'Bannon liked it. Dick had wanted to expand "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" into a novella but had struggled to conceive of a satisfactory second and third act.

With little progress made, Shusett and O'Bannon collaborated on writing the science-fiction horror film Alien (1979), the success of which earned Shusett a development deal at Walt Disney Studios where he continued his work on Total Recall. Budgeted at $20 million, Disney chose not to progress the project, and Shusett eventually sold it to Dino De Laurentiis's De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG). Though their script was deemed an ambitious and brilliant idea, the project was essentially considered unfilmable, in part because of the extensive expensive special effects that would be required.

Development under De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

De Laurentiis considered Richard Rush or Lewis Teague as director, before choosing David Cronenberg. Cronenberg was not familiar with Dick's work but was interested in the script. Even so, issues remained with the third act and Cronenberg spent the next year writing twelve separate drafts. Cronenberg's script depicted Quaid's true identity as Chairman Mandrell, the dictator of Earth. Following a failed assassination attempt on his life, Quaid/Mandrell is convinced by Mars Administrator Cohaagen to confront the Mars organization that suppressed his memory. Cohaagen later reveals that Mandrell never existed and that Quaid is an inconsequential government worker selected to play the role so that Cohaagen could usurp control using Quaid/Mandrell's image. Quaid defeats Cohaagen and assumes his role as Mandrell. Cronenberg was also responsible for the mutant characters including Kuato (originally called Quato), and further developed an idea originated by Shusett about mutant animals, known as Ganzibulls, in the Martian sewers; Cronenberg made them mutant camels.

He found himself often at odds with Shusett regarding the tone, as Shusett and De Laurentiis did not want it to be serious as the science fiction film Blade Runner (1982)—an adaptation of Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). Shusett described Cronenberg's work as bringing the film closer to Dick's original short story, when they wanted an adventure closer to "Raiders of the Lost Ark go to Mars". Cronenberg determined he did not want to make that type of film and chose to quit the project. He was also frustrated by his disagreements with Shusett and De Laurentiis, and creative changes with the casting of Richard Dreyfuss in the lead role. Dreyfuss had requested further rewrites to have Quaid reflect the everyman persona he had established in his previous films, rather than the action-focus of the Shusett/O'Bannon story. Cronenberg had also wanted to cast William Hurt as the lead instead, and focus more on the concepts of memory and identity. De Laurentiis threatened to sue Cronenberg for leaving the project, but was placated by Cronenberg agreeing to work on a different film with him. A few years later, De Laurentiis offered Cronenberg the opportunity to make Total Recall as he had wanted, but the latter was not interested and did not want to argue with Shusett again. Christopher Reeves and Jeff Bridges were also considered for Quaid.

Issues with finalizing the script and the high budget also continued to stall the project. In 1987, De Laurentiis again looked at Richard Rush, but he left because he supported the third act finale featuring a breathable atmosphere forming on Mars, and De Laurentiis was against it. De Laurentiis accepted he was wrong after hiring director Bruce Beresford who also supported the third act as it was. Around this time, writer Gary Goldman was offered an opportunity to refine the script but he turned it down to focus on his own project, called Warrior, that he was working on alongside director Paul Verhoeven at Warner Bros. Pictures. Beresford began preparations for a version of Total Recall described by Shusett as less gritty and more "Spielbergian" in tone, and Patrick Swayze was cast as Quaid. Set construction was underway for filming in Australia when DEG filed for bankruptcy in 1988. Approximately 80 crew were fired and the sets had to be destroyed. By this point, the project had already accrued $8 million in pre-production costs.

Development under Carolco Pictures

Arnold Schwarzenegger became aware of the project in the mid-1980s. He has alternately said he read the script while filming the action film Commando (1985) or while filming the action film Raw Deal (1986) under De Laurentiis. Schwarznegger liked the script and agreed to pursue it alongside producer Joel Silver while filming the science-fiction film Predator (1987), but the project remained unrealized due to its prohibitive budget and because De Laurentiis did not think Schwarzenegger was right for the lead role.

With DEG now bankrupt, De Laurentiis needed to sell off parts of the company that were no longer viable. Total Recall's lengthy development alone had accrued $6 million in turnaround costs alone—a process allowing other studios to purchase the idea. Once Schwarzenegger learned of DEG's status, he asked if the company would sell the rights to Total Recall. De Laurentiis agreed, and Schwarzenegger contacted Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar, the co-owners of the independent film studio Carolco Pictures, with whom Schwarzenegger had made Red Heat. He convinced the pair to purchase the project and within a few hours Carolco owned the rights for the sum of $3 million, including pre-production costs. Schwarzenegger's growing fame and public appeal helped convince the studio to fund the necessary budget, and he agreed to star in it if the script was rewritten to his satisfaction. Carolco completed its acquisition of the majority of DEG's business and assets in April 1989. Schwarzenegger was given substantial influence over the project: he retained Shusett as a screenwriter and co-producer, and oversaw script revisions, casting decisions, and set construction. He described himself as effectively an executive producer without the responsibility, but he was heavily involved because he wanted the project to work. He was paid $10–$11 million for his work, plus 15% of the film profits. Buzz Feitshans as producer.

Schwarzenegger also chose Verhoeven as the director. Schwarzenegger had been impressed by Verhoeven's science-fiction film RoboCop (1987). Carolco arranged a dinner for the pair where Schwarzenegger explained his admiration for Verhoeven's work. Verhoeven agreed to join after reading the Mars hotel scene where Dr. Edgemar attempts to convince Quaid he is still on Earth. The director had wanted to avoid special effects-heavy films after RoboCop and said that when he agreed to direct he did not realize how much special effects would be involved. Shusett had wanted Verhoeven to direct when he was pitching the project to Disney, having been impressed by the director's Soldier of Orange (1977); Verhoeven had turned it down because he did not like science fiction. Verhoeven requested Goldman be brought in to help with the rewrite. By this point, approximately thirty drafts had been completed, credited to Shusett and O'Bannon, Shusett and Jon Povill, and Shusett and Steven Pressfield, among others. Verhoeven read through each one and highlighted those he wanted Goldman to reference.

Goldman had little prior knowledge of Dick's work, but tried to respect the source material and work of earlier screenwriters. He said he would not have joined the project if he did not like what was already written. He considered the second half of the film a concession to traditional Hollywood narratives and so retained most of the structure from Beresford's shooting script. Goldman focused on fixing and improving the existing material, such as making the scientific aspects more realistic, as he did not feel free to make larger changes because Schwarzenegger, Verhoeven, and the studio were looking to proceed with the existing script. The first half of the script remained mostly unchanged, but those involved agreed that everything after the Dr. Edgemar scene was not working. Verhoeven wanted a significant change made however, to indicate that it is possible Dr Edgemar is telling the truth, that Quaid is having a mental breakdown on Earth, and everything after his Rekall visit is a fantasy. Goldman rewrote the script to make it possible for the film to be viewed as simultaneously reality and a fantasy. Goldman also added a twist reveal that Hauser is Cohaagen's evil ally, clearly defining Quaid and Hauser as separate identities and not just Hauser with a few changed memories. Goldman was the concept of Quaid remaining Quaid would work, but believed that by making Hauser evil, Quaid could fight against being forced to become someone he does not want to be. This also helped explain why Hauser would become Quaid, to conceal his intentions from the psychic Kuato. Goldman also made the Benny character a villain, because he believed African Americans were typically typecast as good characters and the reveal would be surprising.

The script also had to be refocused around Schwarzenegger's muscular frame and public image, although Goldman tried to make it less comical than some of the actor's previous films. The meek clerk Quaid become a muscle-bound construction worker, and fight scenes had to be re-written for Schwarzenegger's physical ability to include more feats of strength and less martial arts, less running, and more walking. Second unit director and stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong and stunt coordinators who had worked with Schwarzenegger on Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja (1985) and were aware of what he could do physically and what he would look silly doing. Specifically, Schwarzenegger wanted to avoid action scenes with indiscriminate slaughter with guns because it was a crutch he had been criticized for overusing in films like Commando, so he wanted more creative ways to beat his enemies.

After Goldman's first rewrite, he, Verhoeven, Schwarzenegger, Shusett, Vajna and Kassar met to discuss it. Schwarzenegger and Shusett believed the climax lacked emotion. This was an intentional choice by Verhoeven who did not take the Martian rebel plot very seriously and who prioritized the intellectual aspects of the narrative. To appease Schwarzenegger, Goldman conceived of Cohaagen shutting off the oxygen to the mutants in Venusville. With these changes, Total Recall went into production. In total, the film spent approximately sixteen years in development, going through around seven directors, forty drafts, and four co-writers.

Casting

Michael Ironside was chosen by Verhoeven to play Cohaagen's henchman Richter. The pair had med when Ironside auditioned to portray RoboCop, and Verhoeven had also offered him the role of Boddicker, but Ironside had turned this down because he was filming Extreme Prejudice (1987) and did not want to play another psychopath character. He considered Richter more of a sociopath who is ambitious, envious, and wants Cohaagen's job. He had to audition for the role because turning down RoboCop and a role on a separate film had led to rumours that he was difficult to work with. During the audition, he portrayed someone having an emotional breakdown, and ended up on the floor crying as Verhoeven filmed a closeup shot. Schwarzenegger believed Ironside's physical presence made him a believable threat to his Quaid. Ironside's first scene featured him kissing Sharon Stone in her apartment. His wife was with him at the time which he was uncomfortable with but he said Stone took over to make the scene work.

Stone and rachel picked because they needed to be athletic for the demanding role. Stone said her role resulted in people treating her like "one of the guys", and that Ironside "was the one guy who never forgot I was a woman. When I was thrown down, he would help me up."

Verhoeven's daughters picked Mel Johnson's screen test for the role of Benny. Johnson recounted having just finished filming a "horrible" black exploitation film and when he read the Total Recall script and saw his character described as a "black jivester", he threw it across the room. Even so, he agreed to an audition after reading the script in full and finding his character was more fully realized.

Decided to read it and realized This guy is cold and calculating and the story was intriguing.’ ”

• picardo fed up with effects makeup after explorers but bottin convinced him to do one last go for recall for johnny cab.

Filming

Principal photography is reported to have begun in the last week of March or early April 1989, initially budgeted at $30 million. Total Recall was shot almost entirely in sequence which was a rarity at the time, and filmed over six months, the first three covering footage for Earth and the next three footage on Mars. Filming took place at Estudios Churubusco in the Churubusco district of Mexico City, Mexico. Jost Vacano served as cinematographer. Train station scenes filmed at Mexico City Metro. About 43 cast and 117 crew, across 10 soundstages. *20 week location shoot.

• doing lots of takes up to 20.
• sets began building in Jan 1989.

• only off on sundays.

Though unusual for a film's writer, Verhoeven invited Goldman to be present during filming, and Shusett was also there in his role as co-producer. Verhoeven discouraged improvisation and remained mostly faithful to the script. Goldman said that the shooting script changed "less than one percent" during filming. Even so, some scenes were insufficiently detailed, such as Benny's death, so the dialogue was mostly improvised.

Ironside was badly injured while filming a Mars scene in which Richter chases Quaid and attempts to shoot him from a balcony. In the scene, Ironside ran into Michael Champion (his henchman Helm), who's Uzi cracked Ironside's sternum and separated two of his ribs. Because Ironside was involved in many of the remaining scenes, filming was shuttered while he recovered. After three weeks, a producer advised him they needed to resume filming because they could not obtain insurance unless Ironside could perform fifty pushups. A supervising doctor advised Ironside that the act would only reinjured him and after around 20 pushups, Ironside's rib separated again; after 30 pushups the doctor said it was sufficient. Ironside's first scene back was fighting Schwarzenegger on an elevator, but he could barely lift his arm. The doctor called a former patient, Oakland Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett, for whom he had designed an apparatus to allow him to continue playing after breaking several ribs of his own. The device prevented Ironside taking deep breaths but was tight enough to hold the sternum and ribs in a stable position. Ironside filmed the scene over the rest of the day. He said Schwarzenegger only accidentally hit him once, being cautious of his condition.

Lycia Naff found portraying the three-breasted prostitute difficult and said that she felt like crying because even though the breasts were fake, she felt exposed. She was also suffering from diarrhea and found the experience uncomfortable.

The scene of Schwarzenegger and Ticotin entering the reactor was filmed on Stage 7 and 8. The reactor bridge, described as "the plank" was mounted to scaffolding and one end and left open on the other, in front of which a 20x40 backlut bluescreen was suspended. Schwarzenegger and Ticotin were greased and sprayed with sweat by a worker but Verhoeven told them off because these additions were incompatible with blue screen filming and the duo were toweled off. Actors walked towards the edge as music played in the background; Verhoeven sometimes played music for the actors to heighten their emotions. Flourescent green lights positioned below for glow.

A mid-filming party was organized at a restaurant as a reward for the long working hours with practice stunts and effects. Schwarzenegger ordered lots of styrofoam balls so those present could have a styrofoam snowball fight. Ironside also recounted how Schwarzenegger had a telephone in his trailer during a time before widespread internet access and cell phones. He arranged for Ironside to regularly use the phone to contact his ill sister in a Canadian hospital. Ironside later discovered that Schwarzenegger was calling the sister every few days to check on her.*schwarz known for pranks and teasing people on set,.

• water pisto fight.

While filming a scene where he smashes out a subway window, the glass was not exploded before he hit it with his gun and he suffered a deep wound to his wrist. THe injury was patched up and the bandages concealed by his jacket. lots of injuries, schwarz broken fingers and cuts, lots of dust on the set, gastrointestinites.

The final budget is reported as $48–$80 million.

• Vic Armstrong second unit director.
• Verhoeven adamant he didn't want a second unit at first because he had three on RoboCop and fired each one and ended up doing it himself but produced minister on second unt.
• first shot was arnie drilling cemenet.
• five months of shooting.
• Verhoeven happy with his work.
• 1200 setups and all the fight sequences.
• fight between stone nad ticotin, couldn't hide padding under their clothes so padded the walls and floor. generally one actress and one stunt person unless both faces on screen.
• one shot where one throws the other over her back, verhoevne wanted both actresses to do it, Armstrong said it had to be a stunt girl.
• stone didn't want to train or anything.
• working out the stunt for being sucked out to mars, days when wire removal a problem and expensive to do digitally. first part dragged them along floor by wires, then fly them by wires on hip harnesses shooting from waist upwards nd for wider shots, built a vertical set and put the camera on its side so when they let go it looks like they're flying into space.

verhoeven mad at first because he could see the wires and thought the stunt was failing, unaware of the vertical set. producers said they couldn't afford that. ion the end they gave in because it was the only way to pull off the stunt.

Music

The producers intended to send Goldsmith to Munich to record the score because musicians could be paid lessmore inexpensive. After several days of disappointing results from the players who were unfamiliar with Goldsmiths style, the money was then alotted to recall Goldsmith to London where he recorded with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Three month break in the middle of the session schedule to allow verhoeven more time to edit the special effects, goldsmith recorded Gremlins 2 score before returning to finish the job. Commercial jingles. Source pieces heard on Mars by Bruno Lochouarn. Even elevator music. Includes brass combined with electronics, string.

Special effects

The special effects for Total Recall were provided by Dream Quest Images with Eric Brevig serving as the visual effects supervisor, Alex Funke as the special effects photographer, Thomas L. Fisher as special effects supervisor, and production designer William Sandell. Rob Bottin, who previously worked with Verhoeven on RoboCop, provided the character visual effects. Additional effects were provided by Stetson Visual Services, Metrolight Studios, and Industrial Light & Magic Concept artist Ron Cobb also contributed developing vtol designs among other designs. matte paintings by bob scifo. Illustrator Ron Miller was tasked with designing the Martian landscape. The city itself had to be plausible, and he iterated dozens of concepts for domed cities built into craters and canyons. He also had to anticipate what a Martian hotel could look like, how transportation would work, and the types of vehicles that would be used. He wanted the designs to be scientifically realistic and plausible, but also be visually interesting.

Creature effects and prosthetics

• Wanting to avoid criticms faced on RoboCop, Verhoeven and bottin agreed to use less blood from collapsing arteries and focus on malformation and stretching flesh.

If the eyes are going to come out and the tongue is going to come out, how does it come out? Does it come out and fall down? Does it come out and move? Does it twist? Does it go up and lick the eyebrows? Does it fall down to the stomach? How does the neck move if the tongue is doing that? What are we going to do with the eyes if the tongue and neck are in the way?” Once these questions were answered, the crew studied videos of the actor’s face, walk and whatever else had to be duplicated by the mechanical devices in order to map each precise element. Then they assembled the miniature motors, the little rubber muscles, cables, wire springs, tiny inflatable balloons and flexible skin needed to simulate life.

n another instance, Bottin and Verhoeven created a robotic cab driver--Johnny Cab, in honor of Johnny Cat cat litter. It was designed to resemble an all-American gas station attendant circa 1950 and its every delicate moving part was hooked into a computer that manipulated its mouth and head movements in coordination with the voice of an actor.

Bottin and his studio were responsible for the various creature effects. Bottin re-used a face mold he had made of Picardo for the science fantasy film Explorers (1985) to create the animatronic taxi driver Johnnycab. He also recommended Picardo voice the role. At his audition, Picardo suggested the character make a joke about Schwarzenegger's Austrian accent, but Verhoeven said "We don't do that with Arnold."

For the decompression scenes on Mars, Bottin made live-masks of Schwarzenegger and Cox by applying latex to their faces while they made contorted and exaggerated expressions; Bottin molded each one. He used the molds to create the masks and added small air pockets to each one in which he could inject air to further exaggerate the faces. Cox had completed two days of shooting when he went to Bottin to be moulded for a face mask for the decompression scene later and to make it he had slicked back cox's hair. Cox knew that was the right look for Cohaagen and showed Verhoeven a picture of it. Verhoeven decided to reshoot the 2 days.

For Kuato, Bottin believed the effect would only be fully believable as an animatronic. Verhoeven did not want to use one, but Bottin developed it anyway and filmed some footage which Verhoeven approved of because was unable to distinguish it from the real Bell. Bell was also cast for a full-body prosthetic at Bottin's studio in Azusa. Bell spent up to nine hours in makeup his first day of filming in the prostheses, although the time was shortened as the method was refined, but he was left exhausted. The apparatus also made it impossible for Bell to urinate so he requested a hole be cut into the foam where it would not be visible. Alternate voice actors were looked at to voice Kuato, but they decided to use Bell.

Johnson said he suggested Benny having three arms. He had to wear a half-body cast from his waist to his neck, and the extra appendage was operated off-camera by puppeteers. For the character's death, he had a bodysuit lined with squibs. The three-breasted prostitute was intended to have four-breasts, but feedback said she looked like a bovine ready to be milked, and it was not sexy. Schwarzenegger had suggested four breasts with larger ones over smaller ones based on medical pictures he had seen but Bottin believed it was too realistic and three breasts fit more with the film's style. Johnson's death scene was filmed with and without blood; the producers thought the blood was excessive and used the alternate take. over 3,000 blood backs.

Visual effects

The train station fluoroscope X-ray scanner was built on a 24-foot (7.3 m)–30-foot (9.1 m) ramp with a long piece of glass at the front. The commuter skeletons were the only computer-generated imagery (CGI) used in the film, and were animated by Metrolight Studios. Motion capture suits and a camera filmed the actors moving on the reverse-side of the glass so that Metrolight could see their movements frame by frame. A stuntman performed Quaid's leap through the glass; Metrolight found it difficult to animate his movements exactly as the glass shattered.

Johnson accidentally arrived in Churubusco a few weeks early and used the time to learn how to drive the Martian taxi. The vehicle was a functional Volkswagen chassis with two steering wheels, both of which worked which made turning difficult. Three of the vehicles were made and designed to be driven by a stunt driver for closeups, but the driver did not have the experience Johnson had amassed and wrecked two of the taxis. Johnson performed the stunt with Schwarzenegger onboard. The filmmakers were worried about Schwarzenegger getting injured without a professional driver but he insisted on being in the taxi; the stunt went fine and they did a second take.

The mole drilling machine, c02 jets, vermiculite rocks thrown by stagehands and fillers earth. at one point machine jammed, the rocks too heavy for its motors. Volkswagen underneath. the gearing and strength not very good. During filming ticotin almost fell victim to the moles bite. they set the mole into the wall and built the wall up so that when the mole came out the wall would fall and make this circle which we need to get through to this tunnel. a huge chunk of the stupid thing falls on my head. used the shot. made out of clay but it was heavy.

Sets

Total Recall features over thirty-five sets across eight of Estudios Churubusco's soundstages. Once filming on a set was concluded, it was broken down to make space for the next to be constructed. The sets were expansive and connected by tunnels so long that they continued outside of the stage, making it was possible to drive between sets in the futuristic vehicles. Verhoeven preferred the option of filming scenes in a single take and so it was possible to begin filming on one set and follow the cast all the way through to the next. This setup often involved up to 400 cast and crew members to accomplish. Cox described filming as feeling like a low-budget film because of how much of the budget was being invested into the sets.

Verhoeven wanted Total Recall to look like it was filmed on location, which required several exterior sequences without actual exterior locations. A full-scale segment of Maritan landscape set was built approximately 15-foot (4.6 m) high by 100-foot (30 m) and 60-foot (18 m) that Brevig described as "little more than a patch with this little ridge of red rock." Despite its scale, it was not large enough to capture the vast exteriors Verhoeven wanted, but it was re-used for any scene of actors walking on Mars' surface. It was enhanced using matte painting backgrounds and forced perspective miniatures created by Stetson. Blending the effects required extensive experimentation. Funke described how the details of the miniatures, such as the size of the sand grains or pebbles used, affected how realistic the whole visual looked together. It also involved using the correct contrast and color. Like the main Mars set, the miniatures like canyon walls and mountains were reused extensively to lower the production cost and would be redressed with various pieces to create a new vistas.

Quaid's arrival at the Mars Hilton hotel was shot using a wide-angle lens and a motion control pan. The set features a large window beyond which is the Martian landscape. The visual was created using a 40-foot (12 m) by 40-foot (12 m) bluescreen rig. Making the shot work was difficult as the bluescreen needed to be lit but be far enough away from the interior lighting so as not to reflect it. As natural light was not coming from the window the hotel had to be lit from the side of the footage. However, the shiny floors and accessories of the set would pick up blue light reflections. The blue light could not be removed in post-production because the areas would appear black, so the blue reflections were turned red using rotoscoped mattes. Funke described the reflections as "something you don't see but which has to be there to sell the illusion. The blue screen footage only appears briefly in the scene because Verhoeven did not want to make the special effects the focus of the scene. The technique was similarly used for Cohaagen's office. Brevig and Funke found it difficult to match the wide-angle lens distortion for the miniature landscape footage.

For the scene in which Richter and Helm pursue Quaid and Melina to a balcony from the hotel, only the balcony and a small section of the scaffolding Quaid and Melina jump to is real. However, they were both filmed in alternate locations with views from the balcony being towards a blue screen, and Quaid and Melina in front of a blue screen all composited together with miniatures and matte backgrounds. Following this, Quaid and Melina descend a ladder. This was dubbed the "ladder of death" because of the motion control rig being used for the camera. Its tracks were mounted almost vertically and the camera had to be counterweighted with a trash can full of sand manned by several grips to prevent it lifted off the track. The unmanned camera was then lowered slowly while the pan and tilt were operated remotely. Recorded and scaled down for the background shot.

One of the final shots, depicting the colonists emerging across the surface of Mars combined numerous front- and rear-projected elements, matte paintings, and other aspects front projected onto pieces of strathmore paper. About 17 elements in total and took 28 hours to film because of all the color separation passes for each element. Sandell The Venusville bar was designed to look hard and metallic, no wood, like a tough bar like the Last Chance at the end of the universe, like a classic western saloon with video screens but instead of rock videos the images are of Earth and pastoral scenes.

Miniatures

Miniature sets were built in forced perspective to create the illusion of an endless landscape but this made it difficult to keep the image in focus and the resulting footage was too sharp. Instead, footage was filmed as normal and then a second pass was filmed in very faint smoke. Small details were added to prevent the miniature from looking like a static piece, including trains, machines, cars, cranes, and other details. Brevig and his team found it difficult to portray a landscape without an atmosphere because normal methods of disguising the miniature such as smoke could not be used. The landscape had to be visually sharp and have graduation from the foreground to the back to make the scale seem realistic. Tracking shots, such as following Cohaagen around his office, meant that the miniature footage had to match the live action and the matte paintings.

Funke described adding a synthetic sky to a miniature shot as one of the most difficult tasks, comparing it to the film Damnation Alley (1977) which he described as "one of the most disastrous effects films of all time." The problem was joining the edge of the miniature with the matte sky because the edge was too sharp. To get around this, they shot two mattes, one normal matte of the edge of the horizon which was a lighted white surface adjoining the dark horizon of the landscape and a matte in smoke which made the white matte flash down over the edge where the landscape and sky meet so it softens the edge.

Quaid's arrival to the Mars spaceport and subsequent train ride is one of the film's most elaborate shots. To give the miniature background the correct speed and depth as the train passes as viewed from the inside, four layers were used all moving at a different pace. A reverse forced perspective was used, moving from smaller objects to the biggest, and the distant mountain was actually directly in front of the camera alongside foreground rocks. A motion control track around the camera was used to move signs and poles past it, creating a blur effect to imply speed. From the outside, the train passes over the miniature and through a tunnel as the camera pans over to see the Martian colony. Although it appears to be one continuous shot, once the camera passes over the tunnel, the footage is blended with a matte painting before switching to a differently scaled model containing the colony. The first set was 1/126 scale and the new one was 1/12 making it much smaller. The two sets were shot two months apart. The whole sequence took place over 60ft on a motion control trackand was planned by Funke. Two small projectors built for The Abyss (1989) were used to project Schwarzenegger and other passengers from inside the train. Verhoeven wanted to linger on the train before pulling away and so the animation does not start until the camera begins pulling back.

The alien reactor miniature was one of the largest and most complex miniature sets ever constructed and it had to be built on its side to fit on Dream Quest's effects stage. Although it appears to be a single shot it is actually several cuts to other miniature environments concealed by fast camera movement. The model was 23 ft high and 65 ft long from front to back, columns were 8 foot long. The movement bypasses the alien mechanism and drops into a canyon spanned by a bridge where actors would later be rear-projected in. The bridge miniature was small, one 1 and 3/8" wide while the towers holding the bridge were 6" eachside. A larger bridge model was made because they could not film close enough to the miniature to seamlessly blend it with the live action footage. The set offered less than 1/4" clearance between the camera and columns so Mike Bigelow custom built a camera as small as possible on the end of a tiny pan, tilt, and roll head.

The reactor activating involved three different miniatures at 1/96, 1/24, and 1/8 scale. Making the descending rods was difficult because they needed to appear to be glowing hot but they were only 3" in diameter in the 1/24 set and there was no practical method to light them internally. Instead, they were wrapped in retroreflective sheeting painted with a corrosion texture. Bigelow, who filmed the scenes, used a beamsplitter in front of the camera and a Xenon slide projector to project orange light onto the material. A mechanism inside the rods allowed them to lower. Conventional lights were shone onto the ice surface at the same time to create the look of interactive light shining from the rods onto the ice, since the sheeting doesn't actually produce light it just reflects it back to the camera. In the following scene where the atmosphere erupts from the Martian surface, dozens of crew were responsible for triggering the different effects and fire extinguishers positioned beneath the set. The effect happened fast but was filmed using high-speed cameras to make it appear slower. It took several takes, with the crew learning from errors on each previous iteration.

Release

Context

Fifty films were scheduled for release during the theatrical summer of 1990 (May 18–September 3), including six that were predicted to dominate the box office: Another 48 Hrs., Back to the Future Part III, Days of Thunder, Die Hard 2, RoboCop 2, and Total Recall. Apart from Die Hard 2, the films were all scheduled for release by the end of June to ensure a long theatrical run during the peak time of the year, and other releases were scheduled to avoid opening against them. The post-production schedule for Total Recall, which had been scheduled for a June 15 release, was rushed to move the film's release to June 1 to avoid competition from these films. National polling in April that year showed audiences were most interested in Another 48 Hrs. and Die Hard 2.

The year was predicted to surpass the record $5 billion box office of 1989, with more films than ever expected to surpass $100 million box offices. At the same time, the important of box office grosses was decreasing as studios increasingly earned profits from home media releases, television rights, and markets outside of North America. These growing markets were, in turn, inflating film production costs as stars commanded higher salaries to compensate for their international appeal with Total Recall, Die Hard 2, and Days of Thunder among the most expensive films being released; average salaries for male leads had also increased to between $7–$11 million.

Marketing

The initial trailer for Total Recall, made by distributor Tristar Pictures, disappointed Schwarzenegger and tested poorly with audiences. It lacked any of the film's action scenes or special effects to present Schwarzenegger in a vague, dramatic way. Schwarzenegger believed it "cheapened" the film, saying "it looks like a $20 milion movie in this trailer ... it's like a $50 million movie." He contacted Peter Guber, the head of Tristar's owner Sony Pictures Studios, who contracted a different company, Cimmaron/Bacon/O'Brien, to produce a new trailer focusing on the action and special effects; it fared much better with audiences and attracted praise from industry professionals such as Joel Silver.

Concerned about competition from other major releases, particularly Dick Tracy due to its cast of popular stars, Total Recall's editor Frank J. Urioste worked overtime to complete the film so it could be released a week earlier than planned. This meant there was no time to test screen the film, which Verhoeven and Goldman believed worked against the finished product, including its third act. 113 minute cut.

Box office

In the United States (U.S.) and Canada, Total Recall was released on June 1, 1990, in 2,060 theaters. The film earned $25.5 million—an average of $12,395 per theater, and finished as the number one film of the weekend, ahead of Back to the Future Part III ($10.3 million) in its second weekend and Bird on a Wire ($6.3 million) in its third. This figure gave it the highest opening weekend gross of the year to date, narrowly beating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' $25.4 million, and making it one of the ten highest-grossing three-day opening weekends of the time. The film fell to the number two position in its second weekend with an additional gross of $15 million—a decline of fourty-one percent—behind the debut of Another 48 Hrs. ($19.5 million), and to the number three position in its third week with an additional gross of $10.2 million, behind Another 48 Hrs. ($10.7 million) and the debut of Dick Tracy ($22.5 million).

By mid-July, the film had earned over $100 million and was classified as a success. During the remainder of its sixteen-weekend theatrical run, Total Recall never regained the number one position, leaving the top-ten highest-grossing films by the end of July. Total Recall earned an approximate total box office gross of $119.4 million. This figure made it the second-highest-grossing film of the summer, behind the surprise hit Ghost, the seventh-highest-grossing film of 1990 and one of the most successful films of the year, behind The Hunt for Red October ($120.1 million), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($135.3 million), Pretty Woman ($178.4 million), Dances with Wolves ($184.2 million), Ghost ($217.6 million), and Home Alone ($285.8 million).

Figures are unavailable for all theatrical releases outside of the U.S. and Canada, but the film is estimated to have earned a further $142 million, giving it a cumulative worldwide gross of $261.4 million, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year, behind Dances with Wolves ($424.2 million), Pretty Woman ($432.6 million), Home Alone ($476.7 million), and Ghost ($517.6 million). Taking into account production costs, interest, residual payments, and other costs, Total Recall is estimated to have returned $36 million in profit to the studio.

Reception

Critical response

On its initial release, Total Recall received mixed reviews from professional critics, who generally praised the production values and Schwarzenegger's performance, but criticized the violent content. Conversely, audience polls by CinemaScore reported moviegoers gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Wilmington described it as a "better than average sci-fi premise" that did not know when it was becoming excessive. Kempley praised the special effects but found it lacking as a science fiction film that was undermined by its meek ending. Variety's review wrote that the story was good, bolstered by a solid pace and sense of humor. Travers and Wilmington found the concept of memories and identity being overwritten a genuinely horrific psychological concept. However, Travers believed the film's third act abandoned any logic or artistic ambition. He continued that where The Terminator would "haunt our dreams", Total Recall was a transitory summer blockbuster, describing the films as the difference between "myth-making and merchandising" respectively. Ebert wrote that it was one of "the most complex and visually interesting science fiction movies in a long time." Rosenbaum called it a "worthy entry in the dystopian" genre initiated by Blade Runner that avoided being derivative of its predecessors. Wilmington found Total Recall was at its best when it was at its most excessive and satirizing conventions of the genre, but was lacking in terms of narrative structure, humor, and romance. Steinmetz believed the otherwise elegant story was "suffocated" by the film's excess of "karate chops knife slashes," particularly after the narrative shifts to Mars. Siskel said that by the film's end, he was no longer concerned with issues of Quaid's identity, as the film became too mechanical and he was dismayed that a "potentially strong film lost its way." Wilmington considered the film was a satirical critique of action characters like John Rambo, James Bond, and those played by Schwarzenegger. Kempley wrote that the film tries to "found us with its Kafkaism but is merely an overproduced, underpowered catalog for mayhem."

Maslin, Ebert, and Wilmington agreed that the film's best scene was when the Rekall doctor confronts Quaid in a Martian hotel with the revelation that everything he has experienced is potentially a dream.

Reviewers compared Total Recall to Verhoeven's previous work on RoboCop. Howe said that any fun parts of Total Recall were the result of Verhoeven inserting some "RoboCop camp into this mega dumb project." Maslin lamented that where RoboCop was a critique of mid-1980s action films, Total Recall lacked the same satiric content. She continued that the film was a step backwards for Verhoeven after RoboCop, lacking the same "impudence and incandescence." Glieberman said that Verhoeven excelled at satirizing "end-of-the-millennium entropy", describing Total Recall as a "more ballistic version of RoboCop" that mingles corporate villains with street-level crooks with a background of technology. Even so, he said that the film was more uneven than RoboCop, describing it as a "reckless orgy of pop nihilism and state of the art slasher carnage... like a post-punk version of an Indiana Jones-cliffhanger." Kempley compared it unfavorably to the Sylvester Stallone-starring action film Cobra (1986), saying it was disappointing in its overuse of violence and abandonment of cynicism and creativity for machoism and misogyny.

Vincent Canby described Total Recall as part of an influx of action-adventure films depicting "extreme violence" and numerous deaths, counting seventy-four kills in the film and over two-hundred in Die Hard 2. He was critical that Total Recall made the deaths something to laugh at. Gene Siskel wrote that the plot gradually becomes a "violent, stunningly foul-mouthed enterprise", and Rita Kempley criticized the film for what she perceived as it reveling in death and using "violence as a solution to everything." Michael Wilmington believed the film would be too "brutal or coarse-tempered" for some audiences, as it was "too obsessed with violence". Maslin criticized the "astronomical" number of deaths and the film's focus on "gruesome shootouts and sleazy Martian hangouts." Wilmington said that Verhoeven never conveyed the mutants or violence out of "sadism or callousness."

Regarding Schwarzenegger's performance, Roger Ebert praised the actor for playing against his archetype by allowing his character to be confused, vulnerable, and sympathetic. He continued that his performance is one of the reasons why the film is a success because the role of a man who cannot trust reality itself makes Total Recall more than just an "action, violence, and special effects extravaganza." Wilmington compared him to Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner, saying Schwarzenegger is "attractively vulnerable." Maslin described Schwarzenegger's determination in creating a "patently synthetic yet surprisingly affable leading man." Owen Glieberman said Schwarzenegger was at "his deadpan best", providing a "likeable" central character with an "intense almost anguished edge". Desson Howe described it as among Schwarzenegger's "finest work" and Peter Travers called it the actor's most "provocative role" since The Terminator (1984). Even so, Travers said that though Verhoeven tries to connect the audience with Quaid's fears about his identity, the actor's "superman presence" and comic one-liners prevent the film from eliciting any real emotion. He also believed that despite the actor's "charm, humor, and boundless energy" he was incapable of connecting romantically with Stone's or Ticton's characters. Wilmington also believed that the one-liners did not fit the character or situation, and was critical that the script often forgot to emphasize Quaid's dual identity, with characters who knew him as Hauser, referring to him as Quaid. Johanna Steinmetz said that Schwarzenegger's role was beyond his capability as an actor and forced to compensate with his physical. Rita Kempley described his performance as "unusually oafish ... a cross between Frankenstein's monster, a hockey puck, and ." She concluded that he was a "cartoon whose objective is to make violence fun.

Janet Maslin and Kempley were critical of the treatment of women in the film, who they perceived as "hybrid hooker-commandos" and "basically whores". Maslin noted that the three-breasted prostitute is the film's idea of a "witty mutation." Wilmington wrote that Ticotin "registers less strongly than Stone's ambiguous, blonde slut-wife."

Glieberman praised Bottin as a "mad genius of the perverse" for his "extravagantly deranged creations" including the three-breasted prostitute and the mutants that gave Total Recall' much of its unique visuals. Maslin described his work as "sometimes clever, sometimes gutwrecking special effects." Travers also liked Bottin's work, and Jost Vacano's cinematography.

Accolades

At the 1991 Academy Awards, Total Recall won the award for Best Visual Effects (Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern, and Alex Funke). The film received a further two nominations: Best Sound (Nelson Stoll, Michael J. Kohut, Carlos Delarios, and Aaron Rochin) and Best Sound Effects Editing (Stephen Hunter Flick). The 44th British Academy Film Awards earned the film one nomination for Best Special Visual Effects (losing to the comedy film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)). At the 1991 Saturn Awards, Total Recall was named Best Science Fiction Film. It was also nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (losing to fantasy romance film Edward Scissorhands).

Post-release

Home media

Total Recall was released on Video Home System (VHS) and LaserDisc on November 1, 1990, only five months after its theatrical debut; it was rushed out to take advantage of the Christmas season. It was priced at $24.99, a relatively low figure compared to standard prices closer to $90 and normally reserved for family-oriented fare. However, it was priced lower because audience research had shown a willingness to purchase the film outright due to its rewatchability. Despite it's R-rating, retailers were also willing to stock it, even though they normally avoided carrying films with violent or sexual content. It was predicted to be a well-performing purchase and rental. It became one of the best selling titles of the year, that saw purchased outperform rentals for the first time. It was also one of the top rentals, trading the number one position back and forth with Pretty Woman.

The film was first released on DVD in 2000; IGN criticized the release for poor image quality. It was followed by a special edition version in 2001 that included a commentary track with Verhoeven and Schwarzenegger and a documentary about the film's production, including its release and subsequent reaction.

Similarly, IGN criticized the visual quality of the original Blu-ray disc release. A special Total Recall: Mind Bending Edition Blu-ray was released in 2012 featuring a high-definition restoration from the original negative. This version included a new interview with Verhoeven and a comparison of the restored footage against the original.

For its 30th anniversary in 2021, the film was remastered as a 4K resolution Ultra HD Blu-ray (including a digital copy) based on a digital scan from the original 35mm film negatives under Verhoeven's supervision. As well as content from the 2012 mind-bending blu-ray, this release introduced a 60-minute documentary about the success and failure of Carolco Pictures, and retrospectives on the film score, special effects, and production. Specila 5 disc set including a double-sided poster, art cards, a 48-page booklet with writing about the film (including an exclusive essay from Empire’s Kim Newman), and the film’s soundtrack on CD to boot

Goldsmith's score was first released on CD in 1990 with 10 tracks. A deluxe edition was released in 2000 with 27 tracks.Coinciding with the 30th anniversary, Quartet Records released a remastered soundtrack on a 2-CD and limited edition 3 Vinyl set. Original score plus alternates and source music, restored by Goldsmith's long-time sound mixer Bruce Botnick.

Other media

A novelization of the film, written by Piers Anthony and based on the script and Dick's original novel, was released in 1990; it retains the original character name of Douglas Quail. That same year, an action-platformer video game, Total Recall, was released for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and Nintendo Entertainment System, and Amiga, and Atari ST computers. A ZX Spectrum version was planned but cancelled once it was realized it could not be completed in time for the Christmas 1990 release date. A comic book adaptation of the film was also released in 1990 by DC Comics. A 2011 four-issue miniseries comic book was released by Dynamite Entertainment. Written by Vince Moore with art by Cezar Rezak, the series' narrative continues on from the end of the film, depicting Quaid dealing with a Mars still in chaos following Cohaagen's death.

Thematic analysis

Reality or fantasy

The main theme of Total Recall is the question of whether or not Quaid's experiences are real or a dream induced by his failed Rekall memory implantation. Despite the film's deviations from Dick's original story, both focus on this theme. Verhoeven explicitly wanted both possibilities to be viable, although his personal preference is the dream. He explained "it's a dream, which is disturbing to the audience because they don't want that, of course. They want an adventure story, they don't want a fake adventure story. So they are on side trying to believe that it's all true, while is trying to tell him that it's not true." Quaid chooses to believe in his reality and kills Dr. Edgemar. Lori confirming that the Quaid persona is effectively a dream breaks down the barrier between reality and fantasy, leaving Quaid and the audience unable to definitively determine the reality of what they are experiencing.

It is left up to the audience to determine what is real, and because of Schwarzenegger's public image as a superhuman action hero, the potential remains this Quaid's adventures on Mars are real and possible. Verhoeven said that re-watching the film can induce more doubt in the audience, particularly when the Rekall manager, Bob McClane, effectively outlines everything that will happen to Quaid after the memory implantation. During the same scene, Melina is shown on the Rekall screen before Quaid has met her. At the film's end Quaid still questions if everything is a dream, and Melina suggests that he kiss her before he wakes up. Jason P. Vest said that by not including herself in Quaid's possible delusion, Melina suggests and denies she is a creation of Quaid's fantasy. Ironside stated that he believed the film is an analogue for manipulating reality for the common people through news and the media at the behest of those in power.

Identity

Another theme of Total Recall centers on the meaning of identity in a world where memories are commodities that can be erased or fabricated completely. Vest contrasted this with Blade Runner in which memory is presented as a precious and vital component of the human experience, while in Total Recall memories can be easily removed, replaced, or revised and these changes are generally embraced. When Quaid learns that he is really Hauser, he affirms to himself "I am Quaid" and rejects the Hauser personality.

David Hughes wrote that Quaid is not an altered version of Hauser but a completely separate personality with his own memories and morality. He contrasted Quaid with Blade Runner's Replicants—artificial humans—except that it is Quaid's mind that is artificial. Quaid is forced to choose between returning to his original but antagonistic persona or remaining as the artificial construct of Quaid who is determined to help people. Hughes considered this an interesting moral choice and true to Dick's work. Quaid is offered a chance at a better life by being restored to Hauser's higher social status, but will lose himself in the process. Goldman considered Quaid's refusal to be the authentic choice because he did not believe someone would willingly and permanently give up their identity.

Noah Berlatsky wrote that as an everyday worker who desires grand adventures Quaid is an audience stand-in. He considered the hologram projector that creates a duplicate image of Quaid to be akin to the audience viewing themselves through the phantom personality that is Quaid.

Politics

Vest described political assessments of the film as typically ascribing it to Left-wing politics, presenting anti-corporation and revolutionary ideologies. However, he perceived a more conservative subtext in which the white protagonist saves a society of the less well-off who cannot save themselves.

Vest identified Total Recall as one of many films produced throughout the 1980s—such as Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Predator—that were fronted by white male characters who employ violence to preserve American righteousness, liberty, autonomy, and reinforce an idealistic American image of combating unnecessary bureaucracy, fascists, communists, and foreign and domestic threats. Schwarzenegger himself supported conservative ideologies such as those of United States President Ronald Reagan. Vest wrote that although Schwarzenegger's political leanings make him an unusual choice to portray the protagonist who liberates Mars from Cohaagen's dictatorship, violence is essential to Total Recall's story of individuality and freedom, and as such is the domain of the archetypal white, masculine hero Quaid.

The film presents a politically, morally, and visually unattractive future in which the Earth's locations are covered in brutalist, concrete architecture. Verhoeven specifically chose to use this style because he believed it suggested a cruel society indifferent to the suffering of the Martian colonists as long as Terbinium ore mining continued. Mars is represented with various and constant red hues, invoking associations with blood, danger, and a hellish domain. Propaganda networks brand the resistance as terrorists and describe their indiscriminate slaughter as restoring order with minimal use of force.

Sexism and racism

Linda Mizejewski notes that the name Cohaagen is Afrikaan and his role as leader of a mining industry suggests an analog of South African mining, and the oppressed Martians akin to poor street beggars. Vest believed Total Recall did not offer a positive representation of minorities. He identified Benny as the only central African American character, a blue-collar worker and mutant, who is also collaborating with Cohaagen and helped assassinate Kuato who led the Martian resistance for freedom. Benny's choice to serve his own needs rather than align with the mutants purely because he is also one displays his individuality and personal responsibility. Even so, his repeated references to having multiple children reinforced stereotypes of the oversexed and irresponsible African American man, and his alliance with Cohaagen presents the character as untrustworthy, selfish, and corrupt.

The film has been accused of sexism and misogyny. Many female characters in the film are presented as prostitutes or mutants, suggesting femininity is a source of moral or physical deformity. Similarly, many female characters are violently killed throughout the film such as Lori who is dispatched while Schwarzenegger quips that she should "consider that a divorce." However, while Melina is sometimes reliant on Quaid to save her, both she and Lori are portrayed as effective fighters and Melina is essential to saving Quaid's life at the end, allowing him to activate the generator.

Legacy

Total Recall became one of the most expensive films ever made in its time, and one of the last big-budget films to use almost entirely practical special effects. It is also seen as among the films responsible for a significant rise in the costs of film production because of the high salaries studios like Carolco paid to stars with international appeal like Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Mel Gibson, recouping their investment by selling their films to the rapidly growing film markets outside of the U.S. and Canada. A 2020 article by Syfy also credited Total Recall as one of three action films, including Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and True Lies (1994), with reviving Schwarzenegger's career, after a series of less successful action films including Predator, The Running Man (1987), and Red Heat (1988). It also helped redefine Stone from a model to a legitimate film star. Goldsmith's score for the film is considered to be among his finest work. Goldsmith considered it one of his "greatest scores".

Shusett and Goldman have said they did not like aspects of the finished film: Goldman believed the film was too long, failed to make the audience care about the mutants, and he disliked the excessive swearing, violence, and deaths. He also felt the special effect of Schwarzenegger's and Ticotin's swelling heads went on too long. Shusett concurred, saying that he, Verhoeven, and Goldman regretted the rushed post-production cycle to beat Dick Tracy to theaters which prevented them from conducting test screenings to gain feedback. Goldman believed that they would not have reshot any scenes but would have re-edited the third act to be "tighter. Cronenberg said he was unimpressed by the film, laying the blame on Schwarzenegger who he believed was not the right actor for the part of a shy and timid character.

Two lawsuits followed the film's release: John J. Goncz, a prop maker, sued for $3 million because he believed his credit was removed from the film because he refused permission for Carolco to merchandise a survival knife he made for the film. A separate suit, also for $3 million, was brought by the Southern California Consortium who said Total Recall used animated sequences they had created for scientific videos about planets orbiting the sun. The outcomes of these lawsuits are unknown.

Modern reception

Total Recall has been listed as among the best science-fiction films ever made by publications including IGN, Paste, Rotten Tomatoes, and . Rotten Tomatoes also named it one of the 300 essential films to watch. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 82% approval rating from the aggregated reviews of 74 critics. The consensus reads, "Under Paul Verhoeven's frenetic direction, Total Recall is a fast-paced rush of violence, gore, and humor that never slacks." The film has a score of 57 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". It is also listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

A 2012 retrospective by Vulture and IndieWire by Matt Singer stated that although it contains some anachronistic aspects like outdated technologies, Total Recall remained relevant particularly its themes of the oppressed fighting back against their oppressors, which Singer compared to the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement. Singer said Quaid is one of Schwarzenegger's best roles. Discussing the film in 2016, Tom Breihan described it as one of the best 1980s-style action films. In 2020, The Guardian's Scott Tobias wrote that with hindsight Total Recall formed the middle of Verhoeven's unofficial science fiction action film trilogy about authoritarian governance, including RoboCop and Starship Troopers (1997). One of Schwarzenegger's "most purely entertaining" films.

Cultural influence

The three-breasted prostitute is considered an iconic image from the film. Breihan labeled Quaid's one-liner of "consider that a divorce" after killing Lori to be among Schwarzenegger's most iconic.

The film's influence can be seen in films like The Matrix (1999), in which the main character is convinced to consume a pill to return to reality, and the Schwarzenegger-starring The 6th Day (2000).

Sequel and adaptations

Total Recall's success led to development of a sequel. Goldman had optioned another of Dick's works, the 1956 novella The Minority Report, intending to direct it himself. Unable to progress that project, he and Shusett worked together on adapting The Minority Report into a Total Recall sequel in 1993, depicting Quaid as the head of an organization that uses mutants with precognition abilities to predict and stop crimes before they happen. Carolco struggled to secure either funding or Schwarzenegger's interest and the studio fell into bankruptcy in early 1997 before it could move forward. The television rights to Total Recall were bought by DFL Entertainment for $1.2 million to develop the television series Total Recall 2070 (1999). The show, set entirely on Earth, was not based on the film and was described by author David Hughes as closer to a Blade Runner adaptation. In the interim, Shusett and Goldman had removed the Total Recall elements from their script to develop it as a stand-alone film, eventually becoming Minority Report (2002).

The film rights to Total Recall were bought by Dimension Films for $3.15 million at Carolco's bankruptcy auction. The studio began development of a sequel, intending to bring back the principal cast but not Verhoeven. Matt Cirulnick developed a script, but Shusett's original contract guaranteed him first draft writes to a sequel and he, based on an earlier agreement, was obliged to work with Goldman.

The pair's story continued from the end of Total Recall with Mars now an independent planet. The rebels explore Quaid's mind for Hauser's memories of a mind-control project. It featured several twists including Quaid waking up at Rekall on Earth, and other hints that he is living within a dream. Schwarzenegger became actively involved by 1998, but believed their idea was overly complicated. Cirulnick wrote another draft, revealing that Hauser and Quaid are both fabricated personalities, and depicting the destruction of Mars to save Earth from a bomb placed in the Sun. This draft was well received by the studio, but he was asked to rewrite it to lower the budget. Development eventually ceased as the studio was unable to secure a deal with Schwarzenegger, and a series of failed films had harmed them financially.

The rights to Total Recall were eventually purchased by Columbia Pictures and a remake was announced in 2009. Released in 2012, the film, also called Total Recall, starred Colin Farrell, Bryan Cranston, Kate Beckinsale, and Jessica Biel. Its plot follows elements of the 1990 film but omits Mars entirely, taking place on a mostly uninhabitable Earth. The film failed to replicate the financial or critical success of the original.

References

Notes

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger's estimated $10–$11 million salary, minus his share of film profits, is equivalent to $23.3 million–$25.7 million in 2023
2. The estimated budget of $48–$80 million is equivalent to $112 million–$187 million in 2023
3. The United States and Canada box office of $119.4 million is equivalent to $278 million in 2023
4. The worldwide 1990 box office of $261.4 million is equivalent to $610 million in 2023
5. Carolco Pictures is estimated to have earned $36 million in profit from the theatrical box office, equivalent to $84 million in 2023

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Works cited

Books

• Hughes, David (2012). "We Can Rewrite it for You Wholesale". Tales from Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made? (New ed.). London: Titan Publishing Group. pp. 60–89. ISBN 9780857687234.
• Schneider, Steven Jay (2013). "1990s". 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Boston, Massachusetts: Murdoch Books Pty Limited. ISBN 978-0-7641-6613-6.
• Vest, Jason P. (2009). Future Imperfect: Philip K. Dick at the Movies. University of Nebraska Press. p. 184. ISBN 9780803218604.

Magazines

• Murray, Will (May 1990). "Postcards From Mars". Starlog. United States: Starlog Group, Inc. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
• Murray, Will (July 1990). "Man Without Memory". Starlog. United States: Starlog Group, Inc. Retrieved October 1, 2021.

Undefined

• Buckland, Warren (2006). Directed by Steven Spielberg: Poetics of the Contemporary Hollywood Blockbuster. Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-1691-8.

External links

• Darkwarriorblake/Total Recall at IMDb
• Template:Amg title
• Darkwarriorblake/Total Recall at the TCM Movie Database
• Darkwarriorblake/Total Recall at Box Office Mojo

Refs

• https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/total-recall-and-the-danger-of-privatizing-of-natural-resources
• https://www.ranker.com/list/total-recall-behind-the-scenes/anncasano?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=7g&pgid=1125713100785969&utm_campaign=total-recall-behind-the-scenes&fbclid=IwAR23lhJNmXoB-bPLw0qexAv1KUWD_tEGGPfKrURHTIQsr_PF_nXB5S0BeEk
• https://ew.com/gallery/total-recall-13-reasons-watch-original/
• https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/total-recall-anniversary-30-years
• https://www.cbr.com/30-years-of-total-recall-the-smartest-stupid-movie/