Total Recall stars: Fans should chill out about remakes

In anticipation of this week’s release of ‘Total Recall’ we conducted an interview with the stars and director of the film, letting Yahoo! readers attend the event as Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel and Len Wiseman talked remakes and, erm, boobs...

[Related story: Colin Farrell recalls embarrassing Boyzone audition]

Watch some highlights below.

A re-telling of the famous Philip K. Dick story and a remake of the 1990 Schwarzenegger classic, the subject of remakes has been unavoidable for all involved with the film and its production.

When we asked the stars about it Kate Beckinsale fought the corner of remakes saying, “It does seem odd when you go through the West End and you see they’ve got Hamlet on again. You think well it’s all very well, everyone’s allowed to do Hamlet again, but no one’s allowed to touch Arnold Schwarzenegger!”

“That is a terribly good point,” said her co-star Jessica Biel, “Why didn’t you tell me that two months ago!”

Leading man Colin Farrell then stepped in, saying: “There’s a lot of energy going into the idea of remakes in Hollywood, ‘Down with Hollywood!’, ‘Boycott this movie!’ and you think wow, if this were positive it would be cool.

“As Kate said there are interpretations of theatrical productions and songs like Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. I think Cohen wrote the song for Jeff Buckley and he didn’t even know it, because it’s such a majestic song. Not that I’m comparing our film to Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’ of course!

“I think there’s got to be a deep emotional or psychological reason why people react with the strength they do. It’s quite bizarre because I think whether a film is good or not isn’t predicated by whether it’s quote-unquote a remake or original.”

High brow discussion can’t last forever, however, and talk soon turned to the film’s three-breasted prostitute (a famous part of the first movie) and how the new film references its inspirations.

Director Len Wiseman said, “I made a list of things that I had remembered from the [original] movie since I watched it aged 14 and of course, being 14, the three-breasted prostitute is right at the top! As for other references there are a few things in there that fans of the original, and the short-story as well, will pick out.”

“The two-testicled man, everywhere in the film basically,” joked Farrell.

Wiseman replied: “I think that was the first thing that Kate argued for when I first presented the three-breasted woman in this film.”

When our interviewer said he’d have to research whether any of that was possible Beckinsale left everyone stunned with her impressive phallic knowledge, saying: “Diphallic terata exists, that’s two penises. I know that.”

Moving swiftly on, Beckinsale was then asked about a rumour that she was to play the three-breasted prostitute at one point. “Well when Len directed ‘Die Hard 4’ I had a small part that took a day so when this came along he suggested the same but I’d be a three-breasted prostitute. I sort of went ‘yeah, sure okay’, not really listening.”

Wiseman then added that he just “threw it into a dinner conversation” before his wife cleared up that she was glad she didn’t play that part in the end because to her 13-year-old daughter “it’s bad enough that I’ve got two boobs as far as she’s concerned.”