Introduction
Given the cult success of the science fiction film Blade Runner, which was based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, it was inevitable that there would be more movies based on Dick’s writing. In Hollywood, imitation is the sincerest form of creativity. The fact that this hasn’t happened is a testament to the difficulty of adapting Dick’s work.
There are many reasons for this difficulty. Dick wrote by the pound, and while there are moments of brilliance in his work, there are also passages that make no sense. Because he wrote so much, some of his stories are episodic, with no clear throughline, and some wander hopelessly. “We Can Build You,” for instance, starts off as a book about robots, but this story fades into the background at about the midpoint, at which point it becomes primarily a psychological drama. [1]
In addition, Dick’s work contains more psychology and philosophy than that of most other writers of science fiction. His novels contain long passages of interiorization which describe in great detail his characters’ shifting emotional landscapes. While not impossible, it is very difficult to make such novels cinematic; mainstream Hollywood, more concerned with action than ideas, might be forgiven for not seeing the potential in his work.
There has been one other cinematic treatment of Dick’s writing: his short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” was made into the film Total Recall. Despite the fact that writers Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett were hot properties with the success of their screenplay for the movie Alien, Total Recall took 10 years to make, going through several producers and directors (including Bruce Beresford and David Cronenberg) and over 50 drafts before finally being shot. [2] This article will look at some of the important creative challenges faced by the writers on the road to adapting this particular Dick work.
The Story
“We Can Remember it For You Wholesale” is a pretty simple story: Douglas Quail, a mild-mannered clerk, dreams of travelling to a colony on Mars. Not being able to make the trip on his salary, he goes to a company called Rekall (pronounced “recall”) to have memories of a trip to Mars implanted in his brain. To maintain the illusion, an agent of Rekall will also go to his home and plant various objects which will trigger his memories. At first, Quail is hesitant, but the Rekall salesman points out that implanted memories are vivid while “The actual memory, with all its vagueness, omissions and ellipses, not to say distortions – that’s second-best.” [3]
Quail agrees to the procedure. But when he gets on the table, the implant procedure goes awry, triggering memories of a real trip he had already taken to Mars. As one of the technicians says, “He wants a false memory that corresponds to a trip he actually took.” [4] It turns out that his original memories were erased because…well you can read it for yourself. All I will say is that Dick’s story has a twist ending which would not be out of place in an episode of Rod Serling’s old Twilight Zone TV series.
With the exception of the ending, the first act of Shusett and O’Bannon’s first draft of the screenplay reproduces the short story in great detail. But, of course, that’s only a third of the film. In order to expand Total Recall to feature length, the writers had to add many new elements. Many of these innovations arose directly out of the logic of the original story. If Quail’s problems arose out of a trip to Mars he can only dimly remember, that is where his investigation should take him, and in the film it does. (The short story, by way of contrast, takes place entirely on Earth, with Mars being referred to only as a memory.) More immediately, the villains in the short story put a bug inside Quail in order to keep track of him; the first new element the screenplay has to add is a scene where he purges himself of the bug. (In the early draft of the screenplay, he cuts a slit in his neck and inserts a probe; in the actual film, he shoves a device up his nose. Ouch.)
Getting Quail to Mars is a logistical problem. He only vaguely remembers his life as an agent there, and in particular his skills as a hero, so he isn’t really equipped to get himself off Earth. O’Bannon and Shusett’s solution is to have him follow instructions left by himself before his mind was wiped. This clever device avoids the problem of the main character being too passive (which happens a lot in Dick’s work, and is a feature of his short story), since he helps himself overcome the film’s obstacles.
Since Quail had s to go to Mars, a whole Martian social system has to be developed for the film. O’Bannon and Shusett imagine a Mars colony populated by orientals and the domed city itself is like a hothouse (although there is an underground city reminiscent of a sewer). [5] Neither of these innovations made it into the final screenplay; the former because it was poorly justified, the latter because it may have been too expensive. On the other hand, the presence of genetic mutants on Mars, a minor part of this story, becomes a major part of the final draft of the screenplay. In addition, O’Bannon and Shusett create the idea of a Martian rebellion against authority into which Quail is thrust, an idea which becomes central to the second half of the film.
One other change is worth noting. Dick’s stories are light on the description of technology; he is more concerned with the effects of a technology on human beings than how it actually works, and he frequently allows the reader’s imagination (fueled by science fiction tropes) to fill in the gaps. This is not possible in a film, where everything must be visually represented in all its concrete detail. Thus, a wide array of gadgets were created for the film, including: a screen which serves as a weapons check (using X-rays in the final draft of the screenplay); the device Quail uses to pull the bug out of his head; the Johnny Cab, woman’s head disguise and hologram in the final draft; and so on. These technological details are necessary if we are to believe in the reality of the world being created on the screen.
Is It Live, Or…?
At the heart of Shusett and O’Bannon’s early draft of Total Recall is a brilliant innovation which moves the story in a direction which, while not even hinted at in Dick’s original work, is in keeping with the themes in his body of writing. In the midst of his investigations on Mars, Quail’s quest is stopped dead when an insignificant man appears at the door of his hotel room and tries to convince him that what he’s experiencing isn’t real:
Mr. Quail…I’m afraid you’re not really here at this moment.
Come again?
I said, you’re not really here…Neither am I.
(beat)
We’re both in the Memory Studio of Rekall Inc. on Earth.
LONG PAUSE
So you’re trying to tell me that I never left Earth. That this is all part of some artificially injected memory that your company gave to me.
No, not quite…we didn’t give you this. You’re creating it yourself…It’s a free-form dilusion [sic] that you’re fabricating.
What is this shit you’re giving me?
This is not – shit, Mr. Quail. It’s the truth.
(beat)
I know it’s very hard for you to accept, but…you’re having a schizophrenic reaction…we can’t snap you out of the Narkadine.
(beat)
You’re in a world of your own fantasy.” (D1, 82/82A)
Inherent in Dick’s original premise of implanting memories directly into people’s minds is the question of whether we can trust what’s in our own heads, and how we know what is real and what is not. O’Bannon and Shusett clearly state this theme early in this draft, when Quail confronts his wife just after the memory implant at Rekall fails:
Doug, you didn’t go to Mars.
How can you be sure? How can I be sure? What’s real? What isn’t?
(now frantic)
I can’t tell! I really can’t tell! (D1, 32)
Unfortunately, O’Bannon and Shusett are only toying with this concept, which they almost immediately disavow. Quail, not believing what he’s being told in the central scene, shoots Nelson and rushes away. In the next scene, a shady bad guy phones his boss to tell him, “Quail didn’t buy it – he killed Berger…we just got his ‘Dead Man’ signal.” (D1, 82D) Moreover, Quail’s wife Kirsten, who is part of the conspiracy (a throw-away line in the short story which is brilliantly expanded upon in the film), makes a phone call to her boss in one of the early scenes before Quail even appears at Rekall, suggesting that the conspiracy couldn’t possibly be taking in place in his mind at Rekall. The screenplay makes it clear that we should accept the adventure as real.
By the final draft, this has changed: now there is room for the interpretation that the film takes place almost entirely in the main character’s head. The early scene with Quaid’s wife and the scene with the agent after the scene in the hotel have been removed. And several lines have been added to support this subversive reading. For instance, the first scene at Rekall, in which employee McClane tries to sell Quaid on having memories implanted into his head, contains the following dialogue:
Aaah, let me tantalize you. You’re a top operative, back under deep cover on your most important mission. People are trying to kill you left and right. You meet a beautiful, exotic woman.
McClane interrupts himself.
Go on.
(sits back)
I don’t wanna spoil it for you, Doug. Just rest assured, by the time it’s all over, you’ll have got the girl, killed the bad guys, and saved the planet. [6]
Of course, in addition to its importance to the development of the story, this is a description of the film we’re about to watch!
This theme is developed further when Quaid is on the couch, about to have his memories implanted. When he is asked if he would like to an ancient artifact worked into his dream, he replies, “Sure. Why not?” (D2, 17) This is woven into the film: the plot revolves around an ancient alien artifact.
In addition, when asked what kind of heroine he would like to have, he woozily responds “Wanton…and demure.” (D2, 19) This further complicates our reading of the film, because she is described both as the girl in Quaid’s dream at the beginning of the movie (D2, 19) and Melina, the love interest in the film (D2, 65). The fact that Quaid was dreaming of Melina before he went to Rekall suggests to most viewers that everything in the film can be read as being real. However, it can also be read that Quaid’s dream expressed unconscious desires which drive his fantasy at Rekall. As Nelson (renamed Edgemar in the final draft) argues in the confrontation on Mars:
What about the girl? Brunette, buxom, wanton and demure; just like you specified. Is that a coincidence?
She’s real. I dreamed about her before I even went to Rekall.
Mr. Quaid, can you hear yourself? ‘She’s real because you dreamed her?’ (D2, 75)
After a long stretch of action, the film ends by revisiting this question:
Come on. Didn’t you see the sights, kill the bad guys, and save the planet? … You even got the girl of your dreams.
Quaid stops. His smile dissolves into dread.
What’s wrong. Did I say something?
I just had this terrible thought… What if this is just a dream?
Melina looks up at him, wanton and demure.
Then kiss me quick…before you wake up. (D2, 121)
We’re supposed to leave the theatre wondering if the events in the film we just saw actually occurred, or if they took place in the mind of the main character. Some commentators have pointed out, though, that most viewers do not make this connection, taking the adventure story at face value. (I must admit, that was my interpretation the first time I saw Total Recall.) There are a couple of reasons I can think of as to why this is the case.
The main one is the casting: Arnold Schwarzenegger is the antithesis of a typical Philip K. Dick hero. [7] Dick’s antagonists are working stiffs, emotionally complex characters who are rarely heroic. (Even Dekker, the main character in “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, was a status-seeking, low level social climber, not the stoic detective played by Harrison Ford in Blade Runner. [8]) The main character in “We Can Remember it For You Wholesale” is named Quail, a word which means “to draw back in fear; to lose heart, courage or spirits.” [9] In the original story, Quail was a clerk, “A miserable little salaried employee.” [10]
Clearly, some changes had to be made to the character in order to fit Schwarzenegger. The first was to change the name to Quaid, ridding it of its negative connotations. The second was to change the character from a clerk (in the words of O’Bannon and Shusett’s first draft, a man whose “frumpy, drab clothes and manner suggest nothing so much as a Dagwood Bumstead of the future.” (D1, 5)) to a construction worker. As the later draft has it, “Quaid’s taut muscles glisten with sweat as he and several other WORKERS excavate a rocky building site. The others struggle to control the powerful tool, but Quaid wields his drillhammer like an artist, working twice as fast with half the effort.” (D2, 10) While it makes Schwarzenegger more plausible in the role, it seriously undermines many of Dick’s most important themes, such as the little guy who seems to be at odds with social and technological systems he doesn’t comprehend and cannot control. Schwarzenegger being Schwarzenegger, audiences are conditioned to see him as an action hero, and are likely to ignore subtelties in his films. (The best choice of an actor for the hero in any cinematic adaptation of a Dick novel would, it seems to me, be Steve Buscemi.)
Supporting this, the final draft was beefed up with one-liners, such as the notorious line Quaid says after he fatally shoots his wife, “Consider this a divorce.” (D2, 80) The action hero’s tossing off of jokes in the midst of violent action is a convention which has been developed over the past 20 years (one which Schwarzenegger, in particular, has employed increasing in his action films). By marking Quaid as a typical action movie hero, such lines tend to undermine any readings of the film that would reduce his heroism.
Finally, the third act (the final 40 pages of the screenplay) is almost solid action. It’s probably a natural reaction for audience members, enjoying the adrenaline rush, to take this at face value.
50 Screenplays Later…
Several changes between the first and final drafts of the screenplay for Total Recall are worth noting. In the original screenplay, for instance, the antagonists are shadowy, unnamed figures, making the hero’s battle somewhat diffuse and unsatisfying. By the final draft, the characters of Cohaagen (the man who ruthlessly controls the economy of Mars) and Richter (his agent) have been added, giving Quaid clear enemies to fight. (The fact that the agent playing Quaid’s wife turns out to be Richter’s girlfriend also adds a personal angle to the conflict.)
In a similar fashion, in the first draft, the audience is never given a chance to meet the Martians Quaid must save, making his quest somewhat abstract. By the final draft, the mutants in Venusville have been introduced, making Quaid’s quest more concrete by giving the audience a chance to get to know who he must save. To reinforce this, the hero’s goal in this draft is to save the Venusville residents from being asphyxiated. This is a much less abstract goal than in the original draft, when he had to save Mars from a nuclear attack by agents of Earth, which was not only cliched, but did not take into account the specific possibilities of the Martian setting.
Another problem with the screenplay as originally written was that much of the dialogue was pretentious or pedantic, both highly unnatural. What is an audience supposed to make of the final line in the first draft, which has the hero say, “I never believed in God – until I thought I could be one.”? (D1, 135) (In fact, the whole Martian Messiah angle in the first draft was heavy-handed.) The dialogue in the final draft flows much more naturally.
Perhaps the most interesting change was made to solve a problem with the initial premise. Why go to all of the trouble to implant false memories in Quail’s mind when it would be much easier to just kill him outright? In the short story, this can be explained by the ending, but that was dropped in the first draft of the screenplay. The final script for Total Recall uses the confusion surrounding Quaid’s identity to great effect by suggesting that he was not a hero at all, but that he was a willing pawn in a plan by Cohaagen to infiltrate the Martian rebellion headquartered somewhere in Venusville. In a climactic scene in the film, it is revealed that, since some of the mutants were telepathic, sending a normal agent to infiltrate the rebellion would fail. Thus, Hauser volunteered to have his mind wiped and a new identity implanted into him as a means of bypassing the mutants with psychic powers and leading Cohhagen to the rebel leaders. (D2, 99)
In order to make this clear, Quaid’s character on Mars is given another name, Hauser. This simple device opens up a complex question: who is this character? Is he Quaid, the loving Earth husband, or Hauser, a duplicitous agent of the Martian civil authority? (Talk about a split personality!) A couple of exchanges highlight this problem, including:
I didn’t want it to end this way. I wanted Hauser back. But nooo. You had to be Quaid.
I am Quaid.
You’re nothing! You’re nobody! You’re a stupid program walking around on two feet! Everything about you, I invented: your dreams, your memories, your pathetic ambitions.” (D2, 115)
Quaid/Hauser’s confusion about who he really is suggests that identity is intimately related to memory, a dangerous proposition in a world where memories can be easily changed. Kuato, the mystical rebel leader, seems to solve this problem when he tells Quaid that “A man is defined by his actions, not his memories.” (D2, 93) However, this strikes me as too pat a solution to the issues that the film raises (although perhaps entirely appropriate for an action film).
Conclusion
Total Recall, which grossed $260 million dollars worldwide for Carolco before the studio went under, may be the basis of a sequel. [11] Shusett and O’Bannon have been chosen to write a screenplay for Total Recall 2 for Dimension Films, and Schwarzenegger is rumoured to be interested in starring again. [12] The original film strikes me as complete in itself, but such is the logic of Hollywood.
And what of Philip K. Dick? Although never as popular as science fiction writers such as Asimov or Clarke, Dick had a loyal following, particularly among other science fiction writers, who were willing to forgive his technical deficiencies because
…he had great ideas. Fans of genre fiction have usually been able to tolerate sloppiness of execution for the sake of genuine novelty, since the bane of genre fiction. Has been the constant recycling of old plots and premises. And Dick’s great ideas occupied a unique wave-band on the imaginative spectrum. Not for him the conquest of space. In Dick, the colonization of the solar system simply results in new and more dismal suburbs being built. Not for him the Halloween mummeries of inventing new breeds of Alien Monsters. Dick was always too conscious of the human face behind the Halloween mask to bother with elaborate masquerades. Dick’s great ideas sprang up from the world around him, from the neighborhoods he lived in, the newspapers he read, the stores he shopped in, the ads on TV. [13]
Despite his shortcomings, Dick will always hover in the background of Hollywood. After all, aren’t we always told (by executives as much as by critics) that there aren’t enough good ideas in the movies these days?
Notes
1) Philip K. Dick, We Can Build You (New York: Vintage Books, 1972).
2) Jack Mathews, “Part 2: Arnold to the Rescue,” Los Angeles Times (September 10, 1989), Calendar 4.
3) Philip K. Dick, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” The Preserving Machine and Other Stories (London: Victor Gallancz Ltd, 1969), 132.
4) ibid, 135.
5) Ronald Shusett and Dan O’Bannon, Total Recall, 55. Subsequent references to this draft of the screenplay will be designated by (D1, page number).
6) Ronald Shusett and Dan O’Bannon, Total Recall, rewritten by Shusett and Steven Pressfield, revised by Gary Goldman (March 14, 1989), 15/16). Subsequent references to this draft of the screenplay will be designated by (D2, page number).
7) I say this knowing full well that, had it not been for Schwarzenegger’s participation, the film may never have been made. After producer Dino Delaurentiis failed to produce the film – twice – Schwarzenegger talked production company Carolco into buying the property so it could be tailored as a vehicle for him. He was also instrumental in keeping the film in production when the budget spiralled towards $50, $60 and possibly $70 million dollars, the largest budget Carolco had ever seen. See: Jack Mathews, “Part 2: Arnold to the Rescue,” as well as an article in Premiere (June, 1990).
8) Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
9) Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Second Edition (Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1958), 1473.
10) Dick, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” 130.
11) Rex Weiner, “‘Recall’ in New Dimension,” Daily Variety (Jan 15, 1997), 1.
12) Chris Petrikin and Benedict Carver, “Dimension Scripting ‘Recall 2,'” Daily Variety (May 13, 1998), 1.
13) Thomas M. Disch, “Introduction,” The Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick, Volume 5: The Eye of the Sibyl (New York: Citadel Twilight, 1987).