Trailer
Plot summary
In 2084, Douglas Quaid works construction on Earth and dreams repeatedly about Mars and a woman he does not know. He takes his obsession to Rekall, a company that implants false memories, and asks for an adventure set on Mars in which he is a secret agent. Before the implant is finished, Quaid becomes violent, already believing himself a secret agent. The Rekall staff think Cohaagen's Agency has covered up his past, so they erase the record of his visit and send him home.
Cast
Show all 15 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Total Recall (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Michael Ironside cracked his sternum and separated two ribs after running into Michael Champion, who was holding an Uzi, while filming the pursuit of Quaid and Melina in a Martian hotel, so filming paused while he recovered. After three weeks, a producer asked him back, but they could not get insurance unless Ironside performed fifty push-ups.
- De Laurentiis Entertainment Group went bankrupt in 1988 while Total Recall sets were under construction in Australia; about 80 crew were fired and the sets destroyed, after the project had already spent $8 million on pre-production and $6 million on turnaround costs.
- De Laurentiis did not think Arnold Schwarzenegger was right for the lead role, so after DEG's bankruptcy Schwarzenegger convinced Carolco Pictures co-owners Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar to buy the rights for $3 million and let him star.
- Richard Dreyfuss was cast as Quaid, frustrating David Cronenberg along with his fights with Shusett and De Laurentiis, and Dreyfuss wanted rewrites to make Quaid an everyman. Cronenberg wanted William Hurt in the lead instead, and Christopher Reeve, Jeff Bridges, and Harrison Ford were also considered.
- Jerry Goldsmith's score was first recorded in Munich, where musicians were cheaper, but they were unfamiliar with his style and the result was disappointing, so he was funded to re-record it in London with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. He paused for three months to score Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).
SPOILER
Total Recall was trimmed of violent content and gore, including a longer version of Benny's death, to avoid an X rating that would have restricted attendance to people over 17; it was released with an R rating instead.- The alien reactor set was among the largest and most complex ever constructed in cinema and the largest built for Total Recall; it had to be built vertically to fit on Dream Quest's stage and was limited by its 25 ft high ceilings.
- Total Recall influenced later films including The Matrix and The 6th Day (2000), which also starred Schwarzenegger, and other media such as Rick and Morty, South Park, and The Expanse.
