If you want to know what roped director Len Wiseman into heading up a remake of "Total Recall," look no further than the script by writers Kurt Wimmer ("Equilibrium," "Ultraviolet") and Mark Bomback ("Live Free or Die Hard"). "I had the same questions many do," he told me by phone recently, "'why now,' and 'how would you approach it,' and should I do it." He credits the script with striking a tone of Philip K. Dick's 1966 short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," and going in a different direction than Paul Verhoeven's 1990 film.
Keeping the character names but tossing out Mars, mutants, and much the bloody satire of the earlier film, Wiseman's is a more of a straightforward thriller starring Colin Farrell in the role of Douglas Quaid, an everyman who learns that the life he's been living may have been the result of implanted memories. "Total Recall" 2012 is out this week on home video, and Wiseman told us a bit about its productions, inspirations, and what he'd want if he were plugged into one of Rekall's machines.
