A Recycled Prop Landed One Total Recall Actor His Role In The Sci-Fi Classic

Paul Verhoeven's 1990 action sci-fi "Total Recall" – a mind-bending movie based on a classic short story – had become a lauded masterwork in the genre for several reasons. Chief among them, however, is the special effects and make-up work that gave audiences some of the most memorable creatures and bonkers moments in the film. Who could forget the gross yet fascinating Kuato attached to Marshall Bell's stomach, the three-breasted woman, or Dean Norris' off-putting Tony with a distorted, grotesque face? The man responsible for making these awe-inspiring designs is special make-up effects legend and Oscar winner Rob Bottin, including the eerie puppet and taxi driver, Johnny Cab.

There was also the eerie puppet and taxi driver, Johnny Cab, a character voiced by Robert Picardo, and after whom the puppet was designed. As Ricardo recalled in a 2020 interview with Syfy, Bottin asked him if he could use his visage to form the mold base he wanted to apply to Johnny Cab. "Rob and I were friends and he basically asked me if he could mold Johnny Cab [using my face] — he just liked my face. He said, 'This will be your swan song... we'll do a cast once more of your face with his ridiculous grin on, and then I'm going to make a puppet. And then he said, 'I'll recommend you to Paul,' who I'd already read for in "RoboCop." But I went in and had to audition to be the voice that comes out of my own face and Johnny Cab, and he cast me."

The lesson? Never say no to an artist who wants to use your likeness for a prop in another movie — you might just get the part.

Although Verhoeven's movie was one of those early '90s sci-fis that already used CGI (in the X-ray scene, for instance), the vast majority of the fantastical elements were made with superb practical effects. Besides Bottin, Eric Brevig, Tim McGovern, and Alex Funke also played a key role in bringing the futuristic milieu and mutants to life in a way that very few sci-fis did in those days. In retrospect, that seems even more impressive when you consider the film's budget was a mere $65 million, which quadrupled in earnings at the box office.

"Total Recall" ended up becoming one of the major blockbusters in the early '90s, garnering a whopping $261 million worldwide. Of course, its success was not as surprising when you consider the strong source material (a Phillip K. Dick short story), the excellent cast led by cinema icons like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, and Michael Ironside, and the highly influential director himself who was amidst his peak (three years after "RoboCop" and two years before "Basic Instinct"), and it seemed he could do no wrong in those days.

Thus, "Total Recall" really felt like a labor of love from everyone involved and has undeniably become a staple of sci-fi movies with an enduring legacy that still stands strong more than three and a half decades later.