The Arnold Schwarzenegger role almost played by Harrison Ford ...

Sun 28 July 2024 15:45, UK

Other than their shared cameos in The Expendables 3 – in which Arnold Schwarzenegger instructs the titular mercenaries to get to a chopper being piloted by Harrison Ford, no less – there hasn’t been a whole lot of crossover between the action movie icons.

Even though they spent decades as a pair of the most high-profile and well-paid stars in Hollywood, it’s not as if they were repeatedly circling the same parts. Schwarzenegger was the thick-accented beefcake with biceps for days who made gunning down goons an art form, and Ford definitely wasn’t that.

He was the more stoic, straight-laced everyman who made a habit of saving his family from perilous situations, with their personalities and personas existing at opposite ends of the cinematic spectrum. There’s no chance Ford could have played the Terminator, and the ‘Austrian Oak’ sure as shit couldn’t embody Indiana Jones.

And yet, one of Schwarzenegger’s biggest hits and most cherished star vehicles could have featured Ford in a different timeline. The latter has previous for top-tier sci-fi thanks to Star Wars and Blade Runner, and he could have remained in the Philip K. Dick wheelhouse a touch longer had he anchored Total Recall.

The bombastic blockbuster spent years in development, with David Cronenberg becoming attached as director, penning multiple drafts of the screenplay and eying Richard Dreyfuss for the part of Douglas Quaid. Funnily enough, the producers wanted less Blade Runner and more Indiana Jones, which made it ironic when Ford started being eyed.

Once Schwarzenegger signed on, Total Recall was refitted to suit his more over-the-top sensibilities, becoming the most expensive production ever mounted at the time. Thanks to a combination of his drawing power and Paul Verhoeven maintaining the subversive spectacle that defined RoboCop, the end result made a killing at the box office and won an Academy Award for its visual effects.

The dismal remake showed just how hard it was to sell Total Recall without its inimitable figurehead, but Verhoeven revealed it could have turned out differently. “Total Recall was supposed to have Harrison Ford in the lead,” he told The Playlist. “But once that fell through, and Arnold came into the equation, the tone of the film had to be changed, and we infused a little humour into it.”

Schwarzenegger’s larger-than-life superstardom and Verhoeven’s anarchic sensibilities were perfectly suited for a deranged cosmic conspiracy thriller, with Total Recall a batshit delight that remains as entertaining as it did more than 30 years ago.

It stands to reason it wouldn’t have been quite so outlandish or overtly silly with Ford leading the line, and there wouldn’t have been half as many one-liners, either. It worked out for the best, but it remains a fascinating ‘what if’ nonetheless.

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