Is Colin Farrell Joining The Total Recall Remake? And Could This Be A Good Thing?

Fresh from watching Daniel Radcliffe recite all the elements to the tune of a Gilbert & Sullivan song, Colin Farrell is reportedly in talks to join the Les Wiseman-directed remake of Total Recall. Normally, I'm against remaking/rebooting/re-imagining such a recent film, and especially one that is such a classic of the sci-fi genre as Total Recall is, but this is a rare case where the remake might be able to stand next to the original

The original, of course, starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone, and managed to be great action flick as well touch on the nature of dreams and reality and the persistence of a persona. Was Schwarzenegger's Quaid really Quaid or was he Hauser? Was any of it real or was he simply remembering it? And what kind of damage was done to my sexuality after seeing a three-breasted woman and a dwarf hooker at age 10?

But the thing is, Quaid was originally meant to be more of a nebbishy everyman, rather than a hulked-out future governor. In the original script, they even called for a Richard Dreyfuss-type, an unassuming schmoe that had no idea that he might be a Martian secet agent. From the second we see Schwarzenegger, we know he's meant to be kicking ass and taking names, but with someone more slight and milquetoasty as Quaid, the audience will have a harder time in deciding which reality is the right one. It can offer us a different take on a similar story rather than just be a straight-up facsimile.

And Farrell can do neurotic and unsure like a champ, as anyone who saw the underrated In Bruges can attest, but still pull off action sequences without looking completely out of place. And as long as director Wiseman can create a world as fully realized as Verhoeven's original, well, then I only have five simple words for Farrell:

Get your ass to Mars.

· 'Total Recall' Lead Offered to Colin Farrell [/Film]