I hadn’t been keeping up with the Total Recall reboot updates since the initial announcement last summer, because, well, I really don’t care; besides, I figured there wouldn’t be any black folks in it anyway, right? Certainly not in any of the starring roles; ok, so there was the mutant brotha in the original – Benny played by Mel Johnson Jr. – the cab driver that helps Arnie’s leading man Quaid escape trouble. Remember his now somewhat famous line… “Hey man, I’ve got five kids to feed!”

Anyway… so we know that Len Wiseman will be directing this reboot, and Colin Farrell has been cast in the role initially played by Arnie the Austrian Oak, as he was once known in his bodybuilding days.

But what about the 2 female leads, originated by Sharon Stone and Rachel Ticotin in the 1990 adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s work, We Can Remember It for You Wholesale? Well, you may recall that exactly 1 month ago, we announced that several actresses were vying for those 2 roles, with Paula Patton and Eva Mendes being 2 women of color on the short list, specifically for the Rachel Ticotin role, aka Melina.

Both ladies were said to have been reading for the part that week, with Mendes also being on the short list of actresses for the Lori role, which Sharon Stone played in the original that was directed by Paul Verhoeven.

This week brought news that Kate Beckinsale was offered the Sharon Stone role, so that one’s locked up. And, last week, although we didn’t report this, it was announced that Jessica Biel has also been offered one of the roles, though it wasn’t clear which of the 2. So, with this week’s news that Beckinsale is definitely going to play Lori, I think it’s safe to say that Jessica Biel will assume the other lead female role in the film, aka Melina, originated by Rachel Ticotin.

So, what does all that mean? Well, obviously neither Paula Patton nor Eva Mendes will be in the film, so I suppose we could seal the envelope on this one, and move on. Unless, one of the 2 above actresses suddenly backs out, which would open the door for any of the others.

Hmm.. I wonder who’ll they’ll cast for Benny the mutant with 5 kids to feed, or if he’ll even be in the script for this remake.

On to the next one…