Colin Farrell discusses stepping into some very large shoes...
There are quite a few subtle nods to the original, did you insist on any?
Not really. If anything there were a few one-liners that were in the script that I tried to get removed. Tonally, it was a little bit closer to the original and, I mean, no one delivers a one-liner better than Arnold Schwarzenegger. There are a couple of things in the original that are so fun that I thought, “God, I wish we could have this or that,” but that was probably just the 15-year-old teenage fan in me.
When you got the role did you do any self-Googling to see what the fan boys were saying?
A little bit. There was something that came up on my AOL page that was kind of strange that I clicked on, and I saw a couple of things that I wish I hadn’t seen. And that’s the last time I checked. You know film fans, particularly fans of comic-book characters or certain science- fiction films – when they latch on to something, they do so with such a level of passion. I know there are a large group of fans that are like, “Total Recall again? F*ck Len Wiseman. F*ck Colin Farrell. F*ck it all, man.” But, to be honest, there are certain films that, if I heard were being remade, would really turn my stomach. For example, ET or The Goonies.
Are there any of your films you’re worried about being remade?
No, and I was thinking about that last night. I was in my living room on my own – on the couch at 1am with a Thai green chicken curry on my lap – thinking, “How cool would it be one day to have a film of mine remade?” I would love that. I would love to see another actor interpret one of my previous roles. What would it be like for Leonardo DiCaprio and Baz Luhrmann to do Alexander? Not that it’s likely after what we did with it. Like, I love Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah, but I still have to respect that it came from the heart and mind of Leonard Cohen.
Are you a big sci-fi nut?
No, not at all, man. I mean, it’s the second science-fiction film I’ve done. I did Minority Report almost a decade ago with Tom Cruise, but I’m not a big sci-fi nut at all. I think I might try reading some other [sci-fi] works, though.
If you were going to be a robot, what kind of robot would you like to be?
Do I have to answer now or can I call you back after a good think? In 2017, maybe? I’ll tell you what I wouldn’t want to be: the curb-crawling fembot in this film. I usually know what I’d rather not be than what I’d want to be.
Memory is a big part of the story – have you ever had any memory problems? Have you ever wanted to have them?
Oh yeah man, there are a few black holes, where minutes and hours and days and weeks and possibly months have vanished. But whatever’s disappeared I’m fine with, I obviously don’t need it. As for things I’d like to forget? I don’t think there’s anything.
Is there anyone whose memories you’d like to have implanted into your own?
I suppose if I were to pick anyone, I probably wouldn’t mind being George Best, just at a very certain stage when he was a young man. And I say that with all respect for where George’s life went.
How do you feel about following in Arnie’s footsteps?
I couldn’t imagine following in his footsteps. There’s just no comparison. There’s no world where we share any strain of DNA. He has me by like four inches and about 110lb of pure Olympian muscle. The only pressure I felt, and it was only marginal, was what the hyper-critical fans would think. I’m hoping the creation of this movie doesn’t negate or erase the creation of the first one at all, because as it stands, it is a really cool film.
Total Recall is at cinemas nationwide from 29 August
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