An Alien in Hollywood - Ronald Shusett
Total Recall - Early Days
00:14 – Robin and Harry introduce the topic of today...
more
Nov 2 2019 38m
Chapter 1 12 sec
Robin and Harry introduce the topic of today’s episode, Rom Shusett’s Total RecallChapter 2 3 mins
“Alien had changed everything, not just in the sci-fi horror genre. It raised the bar in quality special effects, excellence in story-telling and sheer cinematic terror. And, of course, it made Sigourney Weaver an overnight sensation.”Chapter 3 6 mins
The decision to buy the rights to Philip K. Dick’s short storyChapter 4 1 min
First steps to making Total RecallChapter 5 1 min
Dan O’Bannon’s involvementChapter 6 2 mins
Challenges with DisneyChapter 7 2 mins
“Nothing you can see will awe you when there’ve been so many special effects. You can’t thrill the audience any more than that, because you can never do anything more amazing than you’ve seen in other movies.”Chapter 8 2 mins
Meeting with famed producer, Dino De LaurentiisChapter 9 4 mins
The unique deal that Ron made with DinoChapter 10 52 sec
The issue with the creditsChapter 11 1 min
“I knew that I was never gonna make a deal unless Dino would give me a credit with him. I didn’t want it instead of him.”Chapter 12 3 mins
Ron recalls visiting a ‘spiritualist’Chapter 13 2 mins
The number of directors that, at one point, worked on Total RecallChapter 14 38 sec
Working with David CronenbergChapter 15 51 sec
Financial roadblocksChapter 16 1 min
From Richard Dreyfuss to Arnold SchwarzeneggerChapter 17 26 sec
“All of a sudden, when I had nobody but Arnold [Schwarzenegger], he did back-to-back the first ‘Predator’ and ‘Twins.’ And he became number one box office in the world.”Chapter 18 41 sec
Landing the star director, Paul VerhoevenChapter 19 1 min
“And so between Arnold [Schwarzenegger] and [Paul] Verhoeven, well that’s ow the movie got made. I had the star and I had the director.”