Len Wiseman did a bit of press for this weekend’s release Underworld Awakening and during our discussion, this writer pressed him for an update on Total Recall.
He told us he is just turning in his director’s cut this Sunday.
“I’m very close to handing over my cut. It’s going really well,” he said. “The combination of mystery and emotion and action, it’s coming together. Colin [Farrell] is a large part of that and I’m really happy with him.”
Wiseman went on to express the most complicated and, as a director taking on the material, most surprising aspect of the sci-fi/thriller.
“I think the complexity of the dual stories was the most surprising and challenging thing,” he said. “When you see Total Recall”, the [Paul] Verhoeven film you experience it, it’s finished. When you’re involved in diving into the material again and going back into the Philip K. Dick story, you realize there is so much to be discussed about the dual stories. There’s the reality story and there’s the fantasy element. They’re running parallel together, so you always have to keep those two alive. That’s the inherent nature of the concept and what makes the concept so cool.”
“I will say, at the same time, this made all of the conversation I had with my cast fun,” Wiseman added. “Every little detail has to apply to both scenarios. My actors would ask, ‘So, in this scene, am I – because I know that I’m lying, because I’m the double agent – how well do I act? It sounds like a silly question, but do you want the other character to see through that or am I so good as a double agent that you would never suspect I’m the best buddy or the wife.’ It’s all of those little things. So, that’s my long way of saying the dual nature of the story was the best thing about this.”
Total Recall stars Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho and Bill Nighy. Stay tuned for more coverage!
(Photo Credit: WENN.com)
