Total Recall (1990)
- During the filming of Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger improvised one of the most famous lines in the movie.
- The original script for Total Recall was written over a decade before production finally began in 1990.
- Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a hidden easter egg referencing Paul Verhoeven's previous film in the background of the opening scene.
Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven, loosely based on Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Douglas Quaid, a construction worker in 2084 who is haunted by recurring dreams about Mars and visits Rekall, a company that implants artificial vacation memories. When the procedure goes wrong and reveals that Quaid may actually be a secret agent whose memory was erased, he is plunged into a violent conspiracy involving the brutal governor of Mars Colony, played by Ronny Cox, and a mutant resistance movement living in the colony's oxygen-deprived slums.
Paul Verhoeven brought his signature blend of extreme violence, dark humor, and satirical social commentary to create one of the most inventive and thought-provoking science fiction action films of the 1990s. The film's central ambiguity β whether Quaid's adventure is real or a Rekall-implanted fantasy β was maintained with deliberate precision, and the practical special effects by Rob Bottin created memorably grotesque images including the three-breasted woman and Quaid's bulging eyes during atmospheric decompression. Total Recall earned $261 million worldwide on a $65 million budget.
