10 Facts about the making of Total Recall (1990)

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1. The story of Total Recall is an adaption

'Total Recall' was an adaptation of a short story by Philp K Dick called 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesome' and was option to Ronald Schusett in 1976 for roughly $1,000.

2. Alien may not have come about if Total Recall had quickly found a buyer

- Total Recall was an expensive script that passed from studio to studio for years, Ronal Schusett and Dan O' Bannon, two of the screenwriter decided to take a break and work another project that turned out to be the script for Ridley Scott's Alien.

3. David Cronenberg was first director's assigned to film

- The original director assigned to the project was David Cronenberg who opted out of working on 'The Fly.' After giving Total Recall a year of his attention he ultimately decided to pass the film on to Bruce Beresford and return back to working on 'The Fly.'

4. Some of Cronenberg's creative ideas were still used in the theatrical release

- One of his concepts was the community of mutant martial people as well as the major character Kuato.

5. Richard Dreyfuss was originally the lead

- Dino De Laurentiis was producing the film with his company De Laurentiis Film Studios and refused to cast Arnold, who wanted to the project, as the lead and instead wanted a cookie cutter schlub who's bummed out about life. Throughout development of the project the lead became more macho than schlub which lead to the casting of Patrick Schwayze for the role. After beginning production in Australia De Laurentii's production company went bankrupt causing them to sell the script. Arnold took the script to Mario Kassar of Carolco Pictures and convinced them to buy the script for him.

6. The film was at first "X" rated.

- Between 1968 and 1990 the culture of United States Cinema had placed a "X" rated on films that showcased heavy blood and violence. Total Recall having been release June 1, 1990 would have possibly made it the last "X" rated film to be made but the rating system was changed just in time to NC-17, making the film fall under the "R" rated category upon it's release.

7. Total Recall won an Oscar

- Total Recall won an Oscar for the Visual Effects at the 63rd annual Academy Awards making it the only Philip K Dick Adaptation to win an Oscar up until that point.

8. Total Recall 2nd most expensive movie of the 1990s

- The film was on a budget between $50-$65million which was the most spent on a movie at it's time behind Rambo 3.

9. Total Recall was one of the first films to begin using CGI

- The film was one of the last to use large scale amounts miniature props and sets but simultaneously became of the pioneers in using CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) for the scene in the X-Ray machine.

10. Everybody on the set got food poisoning except for Arnold and Ronald Schusett

- The filming took place in Mexico and throughout the production each crew got food poisoning except for Arnold who had who food flown in from the U.S. and Schusett who was a hypochondriac on set.