Colin Farrell was ''dubious'' about appearing in a 'Total Recall' remake.

The 36-year-old actor - who plays the lead role of Douglas Quaid, originally played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the new film - admits he was nervous about taking on the role until director Len Wiseman showed him the differences.

He said: ''I loved Arnie in the original 'Total Recall', which I was when I was 15 or 16. There were some funny one liners, there were some great action sequences and really fun performances from Arnie and Sharon Stone. So when I was approached about a new version I was dubious.

''But although the characters exist within the same story frame and are battling with the same conceptual elements, they're very different characters, and for me that was a relief.''

Even Len wanted to avoid making comparisons to the first 1990 film, admitting he had ''no interest'' in simply remaking the movie with modern effects.

He added: ''I had no interest in just remaking Paul Verhoeven's film with updated effects.

''And I didn't want to do another version of Arnold Schwarzenegger.''