While not an out-and-out
adrenalin junkie, Jessica Biel likes a little action in her life. Alongside
comedy pieces like “Valentine's Day” and “New Year's Eve,” Biel’s filmography
is peppered with physical roles, from the remake of “The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre” through “Blade: Trinity” to her recent outing in “The A-Team.” And
now she’s at it again with a physically enervating role in “Total Recall,” a
high-intensity, futuristic action-thriller.
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| Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures |
“It’s
rare being a woman to be able to use your body in the way that we can use our
body in these kinds of film,” says Biel. “I don’t do that kind of thing on an
everyday basis but I find it really fulfilling to work like that on screen.
It’s amazing; you get to learn so much, about different martial arts, or boxing
or whatever it is, which is great.”
Biel’s
latest role is that of a Resistance fighter called Melina in a reboot of “Total
Recall.” The new film is drawn from the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can
Remember It For You Wholesale”, which also inspired the 1990 “Total Recall”
movie, shot by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the
leading role; Rachel Ticotin, meanwhile, played the Melina character.
“In
our movie, Melina’s profession is a bit different,” says Biel, “but then the
tone is so different that it is actually quite difficult to compare any of
these characters in the two movies. She is really a reinvention of the original
character that Rachel had created. She is still a warrior and still a survivor
and she is quite ballsy, I guess. In the original she didn’t take
any crap from Arnold and I don’t think this character takes any crap either!”
The
character in this movie plays an integral role in the journey of the main hero,
Quaid (Colin Farrell), a seemingly normal guy who’s living an existence that is
not quite his own. Len Wiseman, who helmed “Underworld,” “Underworld Evolution”
and “Live Free or Die Hard,” directs.
“When
I heard about Total Recall and read the script it sounded really fun and also
very different from the first movie,” explains Biel. “At the time that the
first movie was made it was such a feat of computer-generated imagery; it was
amazing cutting-edge CGI. Now, to look back at it, it doesn’t necessarily hold
up in that way, but the tone and the fun of it is still there.”
Biel
says that she and Farrell would on occasion watch scenes from the original.
“Sometimes Colin and I would wonder whether we should be making something
that’s more fun and light-hearted like that movie, but then I know that we
definitely made the right choice [in going a little darker].
“Len
Wiseman made the right choice by really rebooting the idea, and not trying to
copy the first movie with the same tone,” continues the actress, “because that
really was a moment, that film at that time, and I don’t think you want to mess
with it. It was perfect the way that it was. Our film feels very different and
very cool.”
While
the film offers an essentially dystopian vision of the future, Biel says that
some of the futuristic gadgets are mind-bogglingly fun. “I figure I wouldn’t
mind a hover car,” she says of the film’s primary form of transport. “There’s
also a really cool gun that Colin uses and when it fires all these crazy legs
come out, and you can wrap people up!”
She
says that were she, like Quaid in the movie, to enter Rekall for a memory
implant, she might opt for the life of a CIA operative. “I’ve always been
fascinated by detectives and secret agents,” she says, “so maybe I would work
on something like a murder unit.”
Biel
laughs. “I know that sounds a little bit morbid, but I’m one of those people
that is obsessed with [the TV show] 48 Hours. I love that kind of stuff. I’m
interested in crime and why people do what they do.”
Hence
she loves the intrigue and intricate plotting that ripples through Total
Recall. The actress says that she feels as though her character is “the heart
of the film.” She adds, “And for Quaid she is that one constant. From the
second that he meets her, she’s just truthful and she continues to tell him the
truth, even when he doesn’t believe her.”
Quaid
starts to question his identity as his story unfolds, realising that his world
and his very existence are under siege. He becomes a wanted man, seemingly with
no friends. Only the mysterious Melina offers a genuine helping hand.
“It
is interesting,” Biel adds. “In many ways Melina represents truth and
intuition, that little feeling that you have when you meet somebody and you are
like, ‘I don’t know why, but I just know you. l feel like I’ve known you for a
long time.’ That little voice that’s hard to listen to. The brain is very, very
clever and manipulative, and can twist on you, but that intuition that’s there
is always the truth, if you can hear it. If you can actually listen.”
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