Hollywood icon Arnold Schwarzenegger has slammed the modern-day remake of one of his most beloved action movies. Thanks to the unrelenting passage of time, enough years have now passed that several classic Schwarzenegger movies have been remade, with the latest being this year’s The Running Man.
While attending a special screening of The Running Man, which finds Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell in Schwarzenegger’s shoes, the Terminator and Predator star took aim at one of his best-loved movies that has since received the remake treatment. Thankfully, it wasn’t The Running Man, but rather the 2012 effort Total Recall, which sees Oscar-nominee Colin Farrell starring as Douglas Quaid/Carl Hauser, the man struggling to work out if he’s a spy or if his adventures are simply an implanted dream.
During the special screening, which Schwarzenegger helped put together for local veterans in Los Angeles, the action superstar reflected on how some of his best movies are now being remade, calling the decision to offer another take on Total Recall “stupid.”
“In 1987, we made the movie The Running Man. This was the decade where most of the greatest action movies were made; the eighties and into the nineties.
Why would you redo, you know, Total Recall? I was unhappy about it. I’d say, ‘OK, that’s—that is stupid to do.'”
Schwarzenegger Responds to Edgar Wright’s ‘The Running Man’ Remake
Inspired by the 1966 short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick, the original Total Recall was released in 1990. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, the sci-fi action flick boasts everything you could want from both a Schwarzenegger and a Verhoeven movie, including a charismatic, one-liner delivering action hero from the former, and the exploration of deeper themes like fantasy versus reality, authoritarianism, and colonialism from the latter. The remake, however, ditches a lot of this (including getting its ass to Mars) in favor of a bland action thriller that most audiences have since forgotten. The stark difference between the two adaptations is fast reflected in their Rotten Tomatoes scores, with Schwarzenegger’s effort holding a score of 81%, while the remake falls flat with just 30%.
The Running Man director Edgar Wright was also in attendance at the screening, and lucky for him, Schwarzenegger feels very different about this remake when compared to Total Recall. Heaping praise on his new adaptation of the Stephen King sci-fi action thriller, Schwarzenegger said he was “blown away” by Wright’s movie, adding that the director did a “fantastic job” in bringing to life the dystopian future they weren’t able to back in 1987.
“I always said in my interviews there was one movie that I did that came out really well, but I felt like we didn’t have the budget to do the kind of, to paint the future that this story takes place…that movie was [The] Running Man. I always felt that could be redone in a better way.”
In response to Schwarzenegger’s high praise, Wright said, “I’m beside myself listening to him speak about the film we all worked so hard on. He has been so kind and generous throughout our production.”
- Birthname
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Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger
- Birthdate
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July 30, 1947
- Birthplace
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Thal, Styria, Austria