Movies

Behind the Scenes of ‘Total Recall’: 8 Rare Photos Show Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone on the Set of the 1990 Sci-Fi Classic

The blockbuster turned 35 recently—and it's more relevant than ever

By Abbey Bender December 31, 2025

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1. On the floor

(c) TriStar/courtesy Everett Collection

In Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a construction worker who has realistic false memories of Mars implanted in his mind and Sharon Stone is a double-crossing femme fatale posing as his wife. Here, Paul Verhoeven directs the stars in an intense fight scene—which features Stone rocking a perfectly early-’90s workout look, no less! Stone and Verhoeven would famously team up again two years later for the erotic thriller Basic Instinct.
2. Listening to the master

© TriStar Pictures/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Here, Schwarzenegger and Rachel Ticotin, who plays a mysterious woman who becomes his love interest, listen intently as Verhoeven works on setting up a scene. Both Schwarzenegger and Verhoeven were Europeans who broke through in Hollywood, and the director enjoyed working with him, saying, “Arnold is great . . . [in Total Recall] He’s the hero and also the normal, insecure, vulnerable, guy who doesn’t know exactly what’s happening or why . . . and who is kind of lost in the universe, lost in the cosmos.”
3. A different side of Schwarzenegger

© TriStar Pictures/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Total Recall may explore dark themes, but it also has its share of humor. In one memorable moment, the legendarily buff and macho Schwarzenegger goes undercover as an overweight woman, and here, he gamely poses with Verhoeven while wearing part of his fat suit.
4. Out of the blue

Everett Collection

The sci-fi aesthetic of Total Recall was achieved through practical means, as CGI wasn’t yet the norm, and the film won an Oscar for its transporting special effects. In this photo, Schwarzenegger stands atop a platform in front of a blue screen, so that the desired background can be projected.
5. Lost in space

Everett Collection

Here, Schwarzenegger and Ticotin wear space suits while acting in front of a blue screen. In the finished film, the blue screen is replaced with the background of Mars, making for pure movie magic!
6. Sci-fi sex appeal

Everett Collection

Stone looks stunning in this portrait from the Total Recall set. The actress initially didn’t want to be in the film, as she was wary of the action genre, but it ultimately helped make her into a star, and she said, “It gave me box office viability. Everybody knew who I was then. Not that I was Sharon Stone, I was ‘that girl in Total Recall.'"
7. Futuristic fast food

Everett Collection

In this funny shot, Schwarzenegger and Verhoeven enjoy burgers from Mars Burger, a futuristic fast food shack constructed as a set for the film. Verhoeven said that Schwarzenegger’s larger-than-life image inspired his approach to Total Recall, describing, “The fact that Arnold was there in fact made me decide to make the movie much lighter than it was originally conceived . . . I felt with Arnold everything was already quite hyperbolic, just because of his presence. I felt that if I took the film too seriously, it would fall apart, it needed a light touch, a certain amount of playfulness was required. I changed it in that direction so that it would not be too heavy-handed, which it could have been very easily. It needed to be light and funny and kind of over-the-top. Everything should be pushed a bit.”
8. Making memories

©TriStar Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

Here, Schwarzenegger sits in the film’s ominous memory-implanting device while flanked by Verhoeven. Though the star looks concerned here, he was happy with how Total Recall turned out, calling it “perfect” (and saying the 2012 remake starring Colin Farrell was “stupid”) and even titling his 2012 memoir Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story.

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