20 years before the end of Inception with a spinning top makes us wonder if all of this is just a dream, Paul Verhoeven blurs the line between reality and dream by using a three-breasted Martian woman in Total Memory in 1990.
To mark the 30th anniversary of the release of Total Memories, this article will take stock of ten things you may not know about this ultra-violent sci-fi blockbuster.
1。 Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the first choice for starring
Although Total Memories is now hailed as one of Arnold's best films, Arnold was not the first choice to play Quaid, the protagonist of Total Memories.
In the mid-'80s, the project began to accelerate, with producer Dino de Laurentis wanting To star in Jaws, Richard Dreyfus, but de Laurentiis abandoned the project after a box office flop for Dune, directed by David Lynch.
Other actors who could play the role include William Hurt, who just won an Oscar for Spider Woman's Kiss, and Patrick Swaitz, who became a popular fried chicken with "Hot Body Dance."
Finally, at a critical time, Schwarzenegger successfully persuaded The Carlock Film Company to buy the project at a low price, and used him as a chip to attract other cast members to join...
2。 David Cornenberg almost directed
After de Laurentis abandoned Total Memories in 1984, David Cornenberg became interested in the project and began working with screenwriters Ronald Schusset and Dan O'Bannon.
The budding Cronenberg not only achieved commercial success with Dead Zone, based on Stephen King's novel John's Prophecy, but also defended his position in the field of human horror films through Murder on Videotape, and had a great career.
Cronenberg worked with Schusset and O'Bannon for 12 months, during which time he integrated the idea of Mars creating a mutant race into the script. Due to creative differences, Cronenberg eventually left the project and went to make "The Fly" instead.
3。 Schwarzenegger brought in Van Hoeven
Under Schwarzenegger's agreement with Karock Pictures, he had veto power in both casting and directorship. Schwarzenegger was so impressed with Robocop that he chose Van Hovin, and Arnold auditioned for Robocop shortly after making his first Terminator (he wasn't worried about character stereotyping at the time).
Verhoeven made a condition that some members of the Robocop crew be brought in, while allowing his preferred screenwriter Gary Goldman to work with Schusett to rewrite the third act. Arnold agreed, which is why we'll see Ronnie Cox play the villain again, with the makeup still in charge of Rob Burting.
4。 Originally conceived as a Martian version of Raiders of the Lost Ark
We all like to use classic movies to describe other movies, such as calling Alien a space version of Halloween. Shusset and O'Bannon bought Philip After K. Dick's original copyright, he decided to readjust the story in reference to the blockbuster movie, pioneering the creation of the script as a combination of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Alien".
That's where Cronenberg's disagreement with them lies, and he wants to try something more terrifying and expressionistic. As for how many Elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark are in the Total Memories we see in the end, it's up to you to judge.
5。 Sharon Stone and Breaking Bad
Before starring in Total Memories, Sharon Stone's popularity had not yet reached the world. Since her debut in Woody Allen's Once Upon a Time in Stardust, she has spent most of the '80s in tv dramas and a series of B-movie action-adventure films like The Treasure of King Solomon, raiders of the lost and emerald.
When her agent first recommended the role of Lori (Quaid's wife), she refused, saying she didn't want to continue making action movies and saying she felt like a dodo (extinct). Fortunately, her agent mentioned Paul Verhoeven, and Van Hoeven's Dutch-language teen film Breaking Bad Flywheel was one of Stone's favorite films, so she read the script and auditioned for it.
6。 Crew food poisoning
The location of "Total Memories" took place mainly in Mexico City, where Verhoeven blocked part of the city's subway system. During the months-long filming, all the crew members suffered from food poisoning at one point, except arnold and Shuset.
Because of the food poisoning that occurred three years ago while filming Predator at a similar location, Arnold had already made arrangements this time, insisting that all the food be packed in cans or airlifted from the United States. Schusset even brushed his teeth with bottled water and insisted on daily vitamin B12 injections.
Paul Verhoeven's condition was so serious that they arranged for an ambulance to stand by and give him an infusion between shots.
7。 The last miniature blockbuster
A year before Terminator 2 sparked the CGI and digital special effects revolution, Total Memories was the last big-budget Hollywood film to make most of the large-scale special effects scenes using miniatures.
Art director William Sandel used expertise from NASA's SpaceLab in Houston to create miniature models that reflect how human civilization operates properly on other planets. From erupting volcanoes to energy on Mars, he oversaw the construction of all sets, while Rob Bertine was in charge of the rubber-like prop effects and oversaw the transition from miniatures to normal images in martian scenes.
The only CGI effect used throughout the film is a 42-second shot of Arnie walking in an X-ray machine.
8。 How Sharon Stone got the chance to star in Instinct
Sharon Stone's performance in Instinct is impressive, and of course, if she hadn't had a particularly eye-catching performance during the filming of Complete Memories, she probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to continue working with Paul Verhoeven.
In the post-production of Complete Memories, the actors were taken back to the studio and looped the film on television to effectively cut out profanity and innuendo, so Verhoeven's film took a long time. In the process, Sharon Stone stumbled upon the script for Instinct by Joe Ezette Haas.
So she used the dubbing as an informal audition; she wore a short skirt and communicated with Verhoeven with great coldness and did not speak to anyone else. Paul Verhoeven was surprised and impressed by her attitude, so he auditioned her against the filmmakers' wishes and starred her in the next film.
9。 Review grading issues
"Total Memories" was rated X after editing because U.S. censors considered the film to be excessively violent, not to mention a lot of profanity and nudity. As now, studios didn't want to overrate it, fearing it would hurt the film's box office, after all, NC-17's "Showgirl" did fail at the box office.
The MPAA specifically mentions an action scene in the subway where Quaid uses civilian corpses to block bullets for himself. To achieve R-rated, Paul Verhoeven was forced to re-edit the film, using different camera angles, shortening violent shots such as blocking bullets with corpses, and softening scenes in strip clubs.
10。 The sequel was brewed for 12 years
Total Memories had a budget of $60 million and grossed $260 million, and Philip F. Kennedy had a budget of $260 million. K. Dick's work became more and more popular, and The Carlock Film Company began a formality.
Based on Dick's novel Minority Report, Total Remembrance 2 envisions Quaid now becoming a law enforcer, using the superpowers of Martian mutants to solve crimes in advance. The sequel was not put into production, and the script later came into the hands of Jon Cohen, who removed many Martian elements and became more faithful to the background and theme of the original novel.
The screenplay was eventually made into Minority Report by Steven Spielberg in 2002. Coincidentally, Colin Farrell, who starred in Minority Report, starred in a new version of Total Memories 10 years later.
What other behind-the-scenes stories of the 90th edition of Total Memories are not known? Welcome to leave a comment to share with you.