History Trivia / TotalRecall1990

* TroubledProduction: The Mexico City shoot was considered a nightmare for most of the cast and crew. Many cast and crew members got sick at one point from contaminated water or got food poisoning or Montezuma's Revenge. The only major members of the production who didn't get sick were Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, who had remembered being sick while shooting ''Film/{{Predator}}'' in the Mexican jungle and took special precautions, and co-writer/producer Ronald Shusett, who would give himself B12 shots each day to avoid illness, and the air was so polluted that Schwarzenegger recalled having trouble breathing on most days.

* ThrowItIn:
** For the design of the terraforming reactor, Creator/PaulVerhoeven claims that he got the inspiration after throwing on the ground a photo book art director Bill Sandell had brought to him, and seeing upside down pictures of early 20th Century skyscrapers.
** Averted in one case; while filming the scene of live actors storming the X-ray checkpoint once Quaid barges in with a gun and sets off an alert which would later be rotoscoped with computer-animated skeletons, the German shepherd used in the scene ''actually stopped and squatted to take a dump'' right on the floor. Paul Verhoeven found it hilarious and so badly wanted to include it in the film, but ultimately relented as he wanted the scene to be remembered for the groundbreaking use of computer-generated imagery, not for a dog skeleton getting to drop a deuce.

** Averted in one case; while filming the scene of live actors storming the X-ray checkpoint once Quaid barges in a with a gun and sending off an alert which would later be rotoscoped with computer-animated skeletons, the German shepherd used in the scene ''actually stopped and squatted to take a dump'' right on the floor. Paul Verhoeven found it hilarious and so badly wanted to include it in the film, but ultimately relented as he wanted the scene to be remembered for the groundbreaking use of computer-generated imagery, not for a dog skeleton getting to drop a deuce.

* ThrowItIn: For the design of the terraforming reactor, Creator/PaulVerhoeven claims that he got the inspiration after throwing on the ground a photo book art director Bill Sandell had brought to him, and seeing upside down pictures of early 20th Century skyscrapers.

* ActorInspiredElement: Quaid's job as a construction worker was suggested by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger as an explanation for how he's so buff despite ([[AlternateCharacterInterpretation possibly]]) being a boring everyman. This also dips into ActorSharedBackground, as Schwarzenegger himself worked construction when he first moved to America.

* ActorInspiredElement: Quaid's job as a construction worker was suggested by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger as an explanation for how he's so buff despite being a boring everyman. This also dips into ActorSharedBackground, as Schwarzenegger himself worked construction when he first moved to America.

* ActorInspiredElement: The concept of Quaid being a physically-buffed construction worker was suggested by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger himself (he did work as a bricklayer upon arriving in California...).

** While the giant, multi-panel flatscreen monitor in Quaid's house is still pretty futuristic by modern standards, every other monitor shown in the film is a CRT, a form of technology that quickly fell from fashion during the late 2000's, being replaced by flatscreen LCD monitors in the majority of western households and workplaces by the time the film's 20th anniversary rolled around.

* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: [[spoiler: Benny's]] death scene was basically made up on the spot. That part of the script was being rewritten, but they already had props and make-up ready, so Mel Johnson Jr. suggested that they just wing it.

** The late Creator/ChristopherReeve of {{Superman}} fame was reportedly attached to play Quaid at one point.

** Creator/KurtwoodSmith turned down the role of Richter, as he felt it was too similar to his role in ''Film/RoboCop1987''. So did Creator/RobertDavi, who played a [[TheDragon similar role]] in Arnold's earlier flop ''Film/RawDeal''.

* ActingForTwo: Marshall Bell voices Kuato as well as playing his conjointed twin brother George.

* ImageSource:
** AdaptationTitleChange
** InWorkingOrder
** {{Multiboobage}}

* UncreditedRole: It is not known who provided the voice of Kuato, as the actor who provided the voice is not credited in the end credits, though it's very likely that Marshall Bell voices him, considering that he plays Kuato's brother George in the film.

** Creator/KurtwoodSmith turned down the role of Richter, as he felt it was too similar to his role in ''Film/RoboCop1987''. So did Creator/RobertDavi, who played a [[TheDragon similar role]] in Arnold's earlier flop ''Film/RawDeal''

* TroubledProduction: The Mexico City shoot was considered a nightmare for most of the cast and crew. Many cast and crew members got sick at one point from contaminated water (the only major members of the production who didn't get sick were Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, who had remembered being sick while shooting ''Film/{{Predator}}'' in the Mexican jungle and took special precautions, and co-writer/producer Ronald Shusett, who would give himself B12 shots each day to avoid illness, and the air was so polluted that Schwarzenegger recalled having trouble breathing on most days.

* WagTheDirector: In the DVDCommentary, Creator/PaulVerhoeven said that for the love scene after Quaid wakes from his nightmare, he wanted Creator/SharonStone to show more skin, but she refused to do so. He settled for shooting the scene as it is shown, but mentions that he "got her back" while shooting ''Film/BasicInstinct''.

* UncreditedRole: It is not known who provided the voice of Kuato, as the actor who provided the voice is not credited in the end credits.

* ImageSource: AdaptationTitleChange

** In his autobiography, Arnold notes the film even had problems being marketed, as a badly cut trailer didn't help audiences know and get interested in the movie. Once he called Columbia Tristar's new presidents and asked them to watch both ''Total Recall'' and the preview, they agreed it was being undersold and started a whole new campaign, starting with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJjp1RnBZrM a mysterious teaser]], and awareness grew really fast, leading to a box office hit.

* InkSuitActor: Creator/RobertPicardo was voice of and facial model for the "Johnnycab" robot.

** Cynthia Rothrock was considered for Lori. According to Rothrock, she found out years later that she didn't receive the part predominantly because some of her would-be costars were concerned by the prospect of being outshone by a female martial artist.

** Creator/DavidCronenberg was set to direct and did almost a year of work on the project before he left due to disagreements with the producers. He wrote a few drafts of the script, which were apparently even closer to Philip K. Dick's works than the final version, and introduced Kuato and the Martian mutants in the story as per his famous penchant for BodyHorror. Cronenberg also wanted to cast Creator/WilliamHurt as the lead, and was displeased by the producers' decision to reimagine the lead for an action star such as Schwarzenegger. Ironically, even although he left the project, he would direct later a very similar and even more MindScrew-heavy film in ''Film/eXistenZ'', and would also later direct William Hurt in ''Film/AHistoryOfViolence''.

** Creator/DavidCronenberg was set to direct and did almost a year of work on the project before he left due to disagreements with the producers. He wrote a few drafts of the script, which were apparently even closer to Philip K. Dick's works than the final version, and introduced Kuato and the Martian mutants in the story as per his famous penchant for BodyHorror. Cronenberg also wanted to cast Creator/WilliamHurt as the lead, and was displeased by the producers' decision to reimagine the lead for an action star such as Schwarzenegger. Ironically, even although he left the project, he would direct later a very similar and even more MindScrew-heavy film in ''Film/ExistenZ'', and would also later direct William Hurt in ''Film/AHistoryofViolence''.

** Creator/DavidCronenberg was set to direct and did almost a year of work on the project before he left due to disagreements with the producers. He wrote a few drafts of the script, which were apparently even closer to Philip K. Dick's works than the final version, and introduced Kuato and the Martian mutants in the story as per his famous penchant for BodyHorror. Cronenberg also wanted to cast Creator/WilliamHurt as the lead, and was displeased by the producers' decision to reimagine the lead for an action star such as Schwarzenegger. Ironically, even although he left the project, he would direct later a very similar and even more MindScrew-heavy film in ''Film/ExistenZ'', and would also later direct William Hurt in ''Film/{{AHistoryofViolence}}''.