Image Credit: Chris Hatcher/PR Photos; Everett CollectionColin Farrell’s career has taken some wildly unpredictable and improbable twists and turns over the years, so it makes a weird kind of sense that he may soon find himself stepping into a role made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sources tell EW that Farrell is on the short list of actors being considered to star in Sony’s planned reboot of the 1990 sci-fi film Total Recall, which starred Schwarzenegger as a man who discovers that all of his memories have been implanted and he’s actually a secret agent with powerful enemies on the planet Mars. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the other actors in the final running for the project—which is expected to hew closer to Philip K. Dick’s original story, “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” than the Schwarzenegger film—are Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender, but one source close to the negotiations confirms their reporting that Farrell has the pole position and may be close to receiving an offer. If so, it would clinch a remarkable turnaround for Farrell. The rakish Irish actor’s career hit the skids after the problem-plagued Miami Vice bombed at the box office (a debacle he told EW earlier this year he doesn’t exactly have total recall of, given his out-of-control partying at the time). But Farrell’s career has been on a dramatic upswing again lately following well-received turns in films like In Bruges and Crazy Heart, and he has recently wrapped work on two other high-profile studio movies, Horrible Bosses and Fright Night.

Personally, as much as I like Farrell, I’m still finding it hard to wrap my head around any actor in Total Recall other than Ah-nuld, who had such an inimitable way with lines like, “If I am not me, then who the hell am I?” and “Cohaagen, you got what you want. Give these people air!” But what do you think? Does the idea of Colin Farrell in Total Recall work for you? Do you think Hardy or Fassbender would fit the bill better? Or are you of the mind that, after his stint as governor ends, Schwarzenegger himself should get his ass back to Mars?

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