In this episode of An Alien in Hollywood, co-hosts Harry Duran best-selling author Robin Maxwell shift their focus to Ron Shusett’s other major accomplishment in film, Total Recall. Ron talks about the decision to purchase the rights to Philip K. Dick’s short story, We Can Remember It for You Wholesale to create Total Recall. He recalls roadblocks and challenges he overcame with Disney’s movie studios, producer Dino De Laurentiis, and a revolving door of actors and directors. Finally, Ron details the story of how he landed famed director, Paul Verhoeven, and up-and-coming action star, Arnold Schwarzenegger to headline his film.

An Alien in Hollywood - Ronald Shusett

Harry Duran

Total Recall - Early Days

NOV 2, 201938 MIN
An Alien in Hollywood - Ronald Shusett

Total Recall - Early Days

NOV 2, 201938 MIN

Description

  • 00:14 – Robin and Harry introduce the topic of today’s episode, Rom Shusett’s Total Recall
  • 03:28 – The decision to buy the rights to Philip K. Dick’s short story
  • 10:00 – First steps to making Total Recall
  • 11:34 – Dan O’Bannon’s involvement
  • 12:54 – Challenges with Disney
  • 17:29 – Meeting with famed producer, Dino De Laurentiis
  • 19:47 – The unique deal that Ron made with Dino
  • 24:01 – The issue with the credits
  • 26:36 – Ron recalls visiting a ‘spiritualist’
  • 30:08 – The number of directors that, at one point, worked on Total Recall
  • 32:35 – Working with David Cronenberg
  • 33:14 – Financial roadblocks
  • 34:06 – From Richard Dreyfuss to Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • 35:52 – Landing the star director, Paul Verhoeven

TWEETABLES

“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.” (00:27)

“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.” (15:04)

“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.” (24:54)

“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.” (35:25)

“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.” (36:34)

LINKS MENTIONED

Robin’s Website – http://www.robinmaxwell.com/

Robin’s Twitter – @TheRobinMaxwell https://twitter.com/therobinmaxwell

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Music by Vincent Covello and Vic Migenes

Artwork by Barbara Mastej

Listen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.com

Discover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.com

Listen to Harry as the host of Podcast Junkies

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