'Total Recall' Star Colin Farrell Reveals Why He Slept On Set One Night (Video)

Columbia Pictures

Colin Farrell did a bit of homework while preparing for his role as Douglas Quaid in Len Wiseman’s reboot of Total Recall.

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The Irish actor tells The Hollywood Reporter he slept in his character’s bed on set one night.

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“I just couldn’t find the key for my hotel room,” the charming actor jokes.

But really, Farrell, 36, wanted to get into the mindset of his factory worker/secret agent character by spending a night alone on set. He tells THR he spent the night with just his iPod, some books, candles, incense and a pot of green tea.

“You do anything really, at times -- that’s not even doing much,” he says. “But just any little bits and pieces just to create little bubbles of experience.”

Farrell’s character Quaid is a factory worker who, after visiting a place called Rekall, finds out that his whole life may be a lie that was inserted into his head, and that he’s really a lethal government agent, who may be able to protect the world from an evil leader with very bad intentions (played by Bryan Cranston).

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To do so, however, he’ll have to avoid being killed by his pretend wife (who is really an agent who has been hired to watch over him), played by Kate Beckinsale.

Farrell, whose previous work includes 2008’s In Bruges and 2011’s Fright Night, said that kissing Beckinsale was “one of the more uncomfortable experiences” he’s had in his 15 years of filmmaking.

“Because her director husband was by the monitor,” he says, adding that “kissing another man’s woman in front of a room of people while he’s telling you to do it” wasn’t easy.

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However, the actor pointed out that things didn’t have to get too hot and heavy between the two.

“It wasn’t even heavy petting, it was just light petting,” he says.

Total Recall, which also stars Jessica Biel, opens in theaters on Friday, Aug. 3.

Watch THR’s complete interview with Farrell below.

Email: Rebecca.ford@thr.com; Twitter: @Beccamford
Video by Victor Klaus