WHAT IF: MINORITY REPORT Was Originally Going To Be A Direct Sequel To Paul Verhoeven's TOTAL RECALL

BadassDigest has an interesting article chronicling the original plans for David Cronenberg to direct Total Recall. His contributions to the project would bleed over to Paul Verhoeven's final version. David was the one responsible for creating the concept of the mutants on Mars and that they would have precognition abilities. However, another interesting tidbit is that everyone involved with the original Total Recall were planning on making a sequel. The mutant precog idea was picked up by screenwriters Ronald D. Shusett (co-writer of Alien) and Gary Goldman as they optioned Philip K. Dick's other short story Minority Report. The pair were aiming to use it for Total Recall 2 as they were prepping the script for the sequel. Total Recall 2 would have seen Douglas (Arnold Schwarzenegger) now the head of a company in the business of using mutants (likely from Mars) to predict crime. Taking the precog concept from Minority Report and expanding it to a whole group of characters introduced in Total Recall which would have been a stroke of genius to bridge the two stories.

Arnold and director Paul Verhoeven were attached for the sequel with it about to go into production. Until Carolco Pictures folded and the film was taken to 20th Century Fox. Paul's cinematographer Jan De Bont and Fox worked together to get the project away from him. The studio then severed any links to Total Recall with rewrites. The cinematographer would eventually get fired from the project himself after flops like The Haunting and Speed 2. It was given to Steven Spielberg instead who rolled with the idea it needed to be it's own thing. Crazy to think that Minority Report could have been another fun R-rated Arnold Schwarzenegger action-fest. Instead of the glib Tom Cruise led PG-13 CGI eye candy which Spielberg gave us.

Screenwriter Michael Green In Talks To Take A Shot At BLADE RUNNER 2

TheWrap reports that Ridley Scott is still actively trying to put together that new Blade Runner film. They say that Alcon Entertainment/Scott Free is in talks to hire Michael Green (Green Lantern) to write a script for the project. Last we heard David Peoples (who adapted the original film) and Janet Peoples was tackling an outline or draft of their own. At the time Ridley and Alcon had confirmed it would indeed be a sequel of sorts. This new report seemingly reiterates that aspect set some years after the original film. I don't doubt that Green could give us something interesting but the stain of Green Lantern's awful box office could make the folks involved cautious to commit. To be fair he handed in a draft of The Flash for Warner Bros. which seemingly peeked the studio's interest as well.

Ridley Scott Confirms 'BLADE RUNNER 2' Is A Sequel And Protagonist Will Be Female

Another interview, Ridley Scott has the director confirms that Blade Runner 2 is indeed a sequel. He also reveals to TheDailyBeast that the film's protagonist will be female, ending previous rumblings that Deckard (Harrison Ford's character) would be returning. It's the first real detail we've learned about the sequel and that it seemingly won't be just a continuation/rehashing of the original film. Considering how interesting the three female replicant characters were in the original film it's not hard to see why developing a new one could help bring in new audiences.

  “Funny enough, I started my first meetings on the ‘Blade Runner’ sequel last week,”...He continued: “We have a very good take on it. And we’ll definitely be featuring a female protagonist.”

New 'TOTAL RECALL' Stills

First Poster For The Total Recall Remake

Alcon Debunks Harrison Ford/Blade Runner Rumor

Deadline has received confirmation from Alcon Entertainment's Andrew Kosove that the rumor of Harrison Ford being pursued for the new Blade Runner is false. He stated that they are still in early stages of the breaking what the story will be and haven't even chosen a writer yet. So the casting of the film is the further thing from their mind at this point. Ford isn't ruled out completely but the rumor has been debunked for now. Kosove also mentions they could end up making the new Blade Runner film in the vain of Prometheus. Still set in the same universe of the first film but still being a stand alone movie.

“It is absolutely patently false that there has been any discussion about Harrison Ford being in Blade Runner,” Kosove told me. “To be clear, what we are trying to do with Ridley now is go through the painstaking process of trying to break the back of the story, figure out the direction we’re going to take the movie and find a writer to work on it. The casting of the movie could not be further from our minds at this moment.” Kosove said they didn’t want in any way to disparage an iconic actor like Ford, but it certainly sounds as though they do not plan to continue his story line. “It’s like asking if we’re going to make the sky red or blue, there has been no discussion about it,” he said. “What Ridley does in Prometheus is a good template for what we’re trying to do. He created something that has some association to the original Alien, but lives on its own as a standalone movie.” Asked point blank if Ford could resurface, Kosove said: “In advance of knowing what we’re going to do, I supposed you could say yes, he could. But I think it is quite unlikely.”

I previously stated that the best way to tackle this project was to mimic the connection between Alien and Prometheus. It seems like Kosove and Ridley very well could be going in that direction. If I have to come up with a writer that could do this subject matter justice it would be Damon Lindelof. He previously worked with Ridley and 20th Century Fox on Prometheus and seems to have retained all the suspenseful elements/tone from the original Alien film. There has been some speculation this will be next for Ridley but many projects have come up that have scripts in place. I expect a film of this scale with the amount of artwork needed would take at least a year to develop it's concept art.

Screenwriter For New Blade Runner Film To Be Announced Soon

ThePlaylist while talking to producer Andrew Kosove about many his projects in development. The conversation moved towards the new Blade Runner movie which currently has Ridley Scott attached to direct. Ridley has given the impression in recent interviews that Runner could be one of this next films if everything comes together. Kosove mentions that they haven't decided whether it will be a prequel or sequel. Also, an announcement on the film's screenwriter will happen early in the new year.

Sometime in the first two months of the new year we'll announce who the screenwriter will be and whether or not it's a prequel or sequel. And then we'll be off to the races.

Here's the thing about Ridley. Ridley is a special guy. He's a force of nature. He's got a lot of stuff that he's working on. I believe it's an extremely high priority for Ridley, that's what he's said to me. This project is moving forward aggressively in development. 

 

Currently the director is finishing up post-production on Prometheus which recently had it's teaser trailer released this week (jaw-dropping awesome!). Apparently he's been bitten by the science fiction bug and wants to make more films in the genre. He has gone as far to say that if successful there could be sequels to Prometheus exploring that universe. Not to mention development on a film based on the novel Forever War.

Ridley could very well could expand the Blade Runner world similar to what he's doing with the Alien universe in Prometheus. A lot of avenues haven't been explored since we basically only saw a film noir set in a futuristic Los Angeles, off-world colonies and replicant rebellions sound too good not to focus on. That being said, Ridley has fingers in a lot of projects and could easily jump into something else.

Ridley Scott Talks New Blade Runner Film

While we are still desperately waiting on the first trailer for Ridley Scott's Prometheus which is expected to have DNA/connections to the Alien franchise. There is development on another iconic film that Ridley will be revisiting. Alcon Entertainment (Insomnia) nabbed the film rights to Blade Runner and were pursuing Scott to direct. Ridley officially joined the untitled Blade Runner film as it's director and producer. It's expected that Warner Bros. who made the original and have worked with Alcon in the past will distribute.

Ridley spoke briefly to Speakeasy (via Playlist) about the film. Scott is considering this project a sequel even though Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) will likely not be in it. He seems to have found a writer and gives the impression development is further along than we assumed.

 "liable to be a sequel.....I think I’m close to finding a writer that might be able to help me deliver. We’re quite a long way in, actually."

"Scott says the new “Blade Runner” project is moving ahead “not with the past cast, of course.” No Deckard? “No, not really,” he says."

Some possible writers could include Damon Lindelof (Lost, Star Trek, Star Trek 2) who recently worked with Scott on Prometheus adding massive re-writes to the original script. Another candidate could include Travis Wright (Eagle Eye) who was confirmed by SlashFilm as writing a Blade Runner sequel before Alcon/Ridley ever got involved. It will be interesting who ends up writing because we have no idea what angle they're aiming for. There has been talk of continuing the original dectective noir aspect also taking things into outer space focusing the replicant uprisings on off-world colonies.

Bryan Cranston Will Play Villain In Total Recall Reboot

HeatVision reports that Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) has been cast as the villain in Len Wiseman's Total Recall remake starring Colin Farrell. Cranston has been getting some prime roles in interesting films such as Drive, Contagion and John Carter of Mars. They also reveal the Mars-less synopsis which seems like it's more of retelling of another iconic science fiction story not written by Dick.

"The new story involves nation states Euromerica and New Shanghai, with Douglas Quaid (Farrell) a factory worker in the latter who begins to believe he is a spy, although he doesn’t know for which side. Cranston would play Vilos Cohaagen, the leader of Euromerica who, under the cover of protecting his people, is secretly readying an invasion of New Shanghai."

Diane Kruger, Jessica Biel, Eva Green, Paula Patton, Eva Mendes & Kate Bosworth Could Join Total Recall Reboot

It looks like Len Wiseman's (Underworld 1-2, Die Hard 4) Total Recall reboot is about to find it's two female leads. Deadline reports that the studio is talking with actresses that will star opposite Colin Farrell. In the role of Doug's wife Lori played previously by Sharon Stone is being read by Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns) and Diane Kruger (Troy, Inglourious Basterds). Also in the role of capable and dangerous ally Melina could be Jessica Biel, Eva Green (Casino Royale), Eva Mendes (Once Upon A Time In Mexico) and Paula Patton (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Deja Vu). Production is expected to start soon in Toronto at Pinewood Studios so expect casting announcements in the coming days.

That fact Deadline is naming both Lori and Melina could mean the remake is closer to the original than previous thought. I'd love to see Kruger in the role of Lori but I think any of those actresses could pull off Melina. I'm just hoping there is more science fiction than previously stated. As Mars was an important aspect in both the film and original story. The remake is set for an August 3rd 2012 release date.