Before the London Premiere of Total Recall last week, I had the opportunity to put some of my questions to director Len Wiseman. While the majority of the interview (which will be posted here on CBM on August 28th; a day before the remake is released in UK cinemas) focuses on the movie which stars Colin Farrell (Fright Night, Jessica Biel (The A-Team), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld) and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Wiseman finished by dropping a surprising revelation about his relationship with Marvel Studios. You see, it turns out that he came very close to helming Iron Man back in 2008 before Jon Favreau (Cowboys & Aliens) took the job.
"Oh man, superheroes... You know, I think a lot of the superheroes that I would be interested in, a lot of them have been done. I was involved with Iron Man for about seven months after Underworld 2. I was involved with Marvel and Iron Man, and I was really excited about that one and honestly, I think at that time, there was a concern that I was too dark of a director because I had only directed a few movies, and at that time, I'd only directed Underworld and Underworld 2. And Underworld 2 was very violent, very gory, very dark and I think it freaked them out a little bit that I was too dark of a director. It wasn't until after Die Hard 4.0 came out, which is a much lighter tone, much more fun, that Marvel called me up again..."
It's interesting to wonder what exactly Marvel called him up about after the release of
Die Hard 4.0, especially as at that point, filming on
Iron Man would have been well underway. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to find out more, but if the studio have considered him for one of their major blockbusters in the past, it's not hard to imagine that they might just call him up again when "Phase 3" rolls around. Would you have liked to see Len Wiseman take on
Iron Man? Be sure to sound off with your thoughts in the usual place, and check back here next week for the interview in full (as well as my review of
Total Recall).
Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police - controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world - Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.
STARRING:
Colin Farrell as Douglas Quaid
Jessica Biel as Melina
Kate Beckinsale as Lori
Bill Nighy as Kuato
Bryan Cranston as Vilos Cohaagen
John Cho as McClane
RELEASE DATE: Out Now (US). August 29th, 2012 (UK).
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.