Total Recall

This lavish hardback book presents the full story of the making of this remarkable film.

Incredible concept art and behind-the-scenes photography sheds new light on how Total Recall was developed from a Philip K Dick short story to a full-blown Hollywood production, while new interviews with key cast and crew capture their experiences on the notoriously difficult shoot.

Loosely based on the Philip K Dick short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Total Recall is about Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger), a beefy construction worker in 2084 who lives a modest and happy life with his wife Lori (Sharon Stone), but keeps having vivid dreams of Mars. To scratch this insistent itch, he visits a company called Rekall, which promises interstellar vacations without the risk and expense of boarding a shuttle. Through memory implants, Quaid can order up a two-week trip to Mars that’s as vivid as if he’d gone there himself and for a few hundred credits more, he can travel as another character, so he chooses 'secret agent'. The procedure goes terribly awry, due to the fact that the Rekall implant clashes with Quaid’s actual memories of being a secret agent on Mars, which nefarious forces have suppressed. It turns out that his current life has been a lie, and it’s going to take an actual trip to Mars for Quaid to unravel this conspiracy and discover who he really is.

About the Author

Braund edited the book The Greatest Movies You'll Never See and writes on cinema for Empire magazine, The Sunday Times, Q Magazine, The Observer, and Time Out.