Len Wiseman talks Total Recall

Last week we brought you the first official synopsis for Len Wiseman’s Total Recall reboot, the gist of which seemed to be that it will be pretty much the same as the last one, minus the Martian setting.

Now Wiseman has come out and had his say on the project, which he insists will delve deeper into the themes addressed by the Philip K Dick story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale , upon which the first film was based.

“I'm very close to handing over my cut,” Wiseman told Comingsoon.net . “ It's going really well. 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.”

“I think the complexity of the dual stories was the most surprising and challenging thing," he continues. "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.”

And according to Wiseman, that dual-concept meant his cast had to be on their toes throughout filming.

“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 will open in the UK on 22 August 2012.