Total Recall (1990)

Sex + Violence: The Films of Paul Verhoeven (Part 3)

With the release of ROBOCOP, Paul Verhoeven had been catapulted onto the A-list. With that film’s success, it was inevitable that some of Hollywood’s biggest names would come calling. And in the late 1980s, there were arguably no bigger stars that Arnold Schwarzenegger.

After seeing ROBOCOP, Schwarzenegger personally tapped Verhoeven to be the director of his next project, the long-gestating Philip K. Dick adaptation TOTAL RECALL. But that film’s development didn’t begin there; the story of its creation began a decade and a half earlier, as project by the young screenwriter duo of Dan O’Bannon and Ron Shusett, who worked on the project alongside another screenplay, one that would later become Ridley Scott’s ALIEN.

In this episode, we’ll trace TOTAL RECALL’s creation, beginning in the mid-70s, all the way through its filming, release, legacy and the multiple attempts to bring a sequel to life.

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Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop, and Todd A. Davis.