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| I'll be back... or the reboot will be anyway. Photo credit: Sony |
Total Recall, probably the best Arnie movie after The Terminator, has a reboot. And this year, it has a Comic-Con panel. Here’s the live blog of what how it
went.
We have Ralph Garman moderating. Introduces Director Len Wiseman, Brian Cransten, Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, and Kate Beckinsale.
Moderator: So how is the final
product? /Wiseman: Can't wait for everyone to see it.
Moderator: Did you have a good time
making this film? You had some big shoes
to fill, didn’t you? /Farrell: Definitely had fun doing it. It was a lot of
fun to film.
First look at some extended footage.
A six minute reel. In a word:
awesome! (Loads of action sequences, plenty of nods to the original - including a
three-boobed hooker.)
Mod: Holy hell!
4:55 p.m. Mod: Was it fun playing a really bad guy? (To Cranston… laughs) /Cranston:
Cohagan has been referred to as a douchebag. It's exhausting, the work, every single
day. I imagine you guys slept well (to
Biel, Farrell, Beckinsale).
4:57 p.m. Biel: You do have to train... like an athlete
would. Then train, train... boxing,
boxing, boxing. I love doing this kind
of movie... these kind of action sequences.
We loved it, actually.
4:58 p.m. Fan: Which way are you going with this film? /Wiseman:
What attracted me was the mystery.
A lot of action... the world building.
I really geek out. But what
really drew me in was the mystery. It
was a character itself.
5:00 p.m. Mod: What's the challenge
of playing a character who doesn't know who he is? /Farrell:
Maybe it's that I'm someone who didn't know who he was for a large
portion of his life. (Lots of
laughs). He's kind of in a state of
shock for most of the movie. Future is
wide open because he can really be anyone he wants to be.
5:02 p.m. Fan: You said a year ago that you were afraid of
doing Sharon Stone's character. How do
you feel now? :/Beckinsale: I feel okay doing a new take on it. Our tone is really different this time around. It really doesn't feel like the same
character. It was a wild ride.
5:02 p.m. Mod: There are few nods to the original film. /Wiseman:
Well, it doesn't go to Mars. That
was a pretty big departure from the original.
Mod: If we didn't have the hooker
with three boobs, we'd be pretty upset. (Laughs)
5:05 p.m. Fan: Are you happy with the way they portrayed
Britain? /Beckinsale: I think so.
5:05 p.m. Fan: Speaking of an accent. Arnold had an accent... Colin... did you
think about using your Irish accent?
/Farrell: No... No, I
didn't. I did think of messing around
with an Austrian accent for a bit... for like seven minutes. (Laughter all
around)
5:07 p.m. Fan: Colin, I've noticed
you've done a lot of smaller comedies like In Bruges. What brought you back to this? /Farrell:
I hadn't done a big film... action film... in 6 or 7 years. I just thought it was time... there was a lot
of fun to be had in a film like this. I
was a bit dubious about doing a second remake... ugh... could I be any less
original? But then Len showed me some
drawings and I thought... geez, I could be in that frame.
5:08 p.m. Mod: What drew you on board? /Cranston:
It was the training. I was
training a lot in the bar. (Laughs) We were having drinks and trying to get into
character. I approach it as though I
didn't set out to kill Colin - I just want him to behave. He's like a teenage son that's acting
out. This guy, unlike the Ronny Cox character,
would be benevolent. If they would just listen to my ideas... but there's these
terrorists out there. Anyway, that's the
loose approach we went with.
5:09 p.m. Mod: What drew you? /Biel:
It was... yeah, like the rest of them.
The Len spell. The casting couch
is not dead. (Laughs)
5:12 p.m. Fan: Colin, what was it
like filling Arnie's shoes?
/Farrell: Airy. (Laughs).
I didn't feel like I had to fill his shoes. This one is played a lot straighter... what
I'm saying is that I don't have a lot of one liners. Fundamentally, it's a story of a man who's
searching for his true identity. On day
one, it felt original. I didn't have to
fight what Arnie did or try to be different.
5:14 p.m. Fan: I'm shocked to be
here because I waited in line two minutes.
(Boos all around). /Farrell: Thanks for your patience, man.
5:15 p.m. (Last question). Fan:
Colin, what was it like acting against a green screen? /Farrell:
It wasn't bad at all. I never had
to talk to a tennis ball on a stick. All
the actors were always in the space. I
felt like the immediate environment I was in always had furniture to trip
over. One of the sets was like an opium
den... I felt right at home.
