Paul Verhoeven: “My Total Recall was corny? The remake is worse!”

Total Recall will return tonight on CStar.

Paul Verhoeven is known for his shocking films, and his statements are just as shocking. In 2012, when his cult SF film Total Recall has been the subject of a remake, subtitled Programmed memories and carried by Colin Farrell, he did not mince his words about this new version. Two years later, it is Robocop which was in turn relaunched, and there either, the filmmaker of the original project did not really like the result. On the occasion of the rebroadcast of the “true” Total Recall on television, a look back at this straightforward reaction from the director.

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Shortly before releasing the new version of Total Recall, Toby Jaffe And Neil Moritzthe producers of the remake, explained to Screen Rant that if they had embarked on this adventure, it was because they found the original 1990 film “kitsch” and that there was no way to modernize it. A reflection which did not please the director of the film carried by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While he was precisely presenting Souvenirs for sale, the news of Philip K. Dick who inspired Total Recallto a public passionate about science fiction, he responded to the producers, but also to Colin Farrellthe star of the remake, who also judged the film “kitsch”and his words were relayed by Movieline : “Thanks to Arnold’s presence, the film took on a slightly lighter tone, and I find that to be an important element in the stories of Philip K. Dick. If we had done it too seriously, I’m not sure it would have worked. Not at that time. That said, in our time it doesn’t work either. I’m saying this because the producers of the remake said my film was ‘cheesy’ or something like that. Colin Farrell described it in an interview as a ‘kitsch film’. So I have every right to say that theirs is bad.”

Total Recall: the audio commentary for dummies by Schwarzy

During this meeting with the public, the filmmaker also returned to the complicated genesis of his version of Total Recall, which had cost a lot of money. He explained that without Arnold Schwarzeneggerhe would never have directed this film: the actor, attached to the project for a long time, had loved Robocop and asked that Paul Verhoeven takes control of the science fiction film. When he signed, the script was still not complete and the director proposed the open ending that we know: “The producer asked me if Quaid’s experience was real or not. I told him, ‘Both.’ He said, ‘That doesn’t make sense.’ But the idea was still kept.

Without Total Recall, there might not have been any Basic Instinct for the director, who was won over by Sharon Stone during filming: “I think we had flair in casting Sharon. As the filming progressed, I discovered how far she dared to go. There is this magnificent scene where Arnold and Rachel (Ticotin, editor’s note) come out of the elevator and they start shooting. Sharon is on the ground and she is looking at Arnold… It was those 5 or 6 seconds that made me decide to offer her Basic Instinct. She could change her expression so quickly, very believable. She was terribly evil, then sweet and charming… That’s when I said to myself that she would be perfect for Basic Instinct.”

Paul Verhoeven on Total Recall: “We had flair in casting Sharon Stone”

Trailer for Total Recall :