Total Recall: Spot the Philip K. Dick Ref!

David Weiner

April 10, 2012

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The brand-new trailer for the upcoming Total Recall remake directed by Len Wiseman and starring Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale is a visual treat for fans of Philip K. Dick movies. Are you quick enough to catch all the references from previous movies adapted from the influential sci-fi writer?

Set Up Your Own 'Total Recall' Memories

Besides the obvious story elements featured in 1990's Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, it looks like there's a lot here to please even the pickiest of Philip K. Dick fans: Spinner-inspired flying cars straight from Blade Runner (based on Dick's 1968 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) play prominently in a pivotal action sequence, not to mention the crowded, mega-metropolis setting and influence of Asian-culture from that seminal 1982 Ridley Scott film starring Harrison Ford.

The futuristic technology and transportation employed in the film is also reminiscent of Steven Spielberg's 2002 Minority Report with Tom Cruise (based on Dick's 1956 short story The Minority Report), from the maglev travel system to the gesture-control technology.

Seven Mind-Blowing Philip K. Dick Thrillers

Last but not least, it looks like Colin's character, Douglas Quaid, is using a "scramble suit" as a disguise -- similar to the ones used in Richard Linklater's 2006 A Scanner Darkly by Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder (based on Dick's 1977 novel of the same name). I guess he won't be playing dress-up as a fat lady with a removable, exploding head?

Colin Rates 'Total Recall' Killer Catfight

Inspired by Dick's 1966 short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Total Recall casts Colin as a factory worker who seeks out a mind-trip vacation from his frustrating life, only to discover that he may actually just be the super spy he requested to be in his implanted dream. The film arrives in theaters August 3.

How many other Philip K. Dick references can you catch?


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