Colin Farrell admits there have been a "few black holes" in his memory.

The Irish actor is currently promoting his new movie, a remake of Total Recall. Memory plays an important part in the sci-fi film and former party animal Farrell has confessed that he has some personal experience of forgetting certain periods in his life.

"Oh yeah man, there are a few black holes, where minutes and hours and days and weeks and possibly months have vanished," he told UK magazine Shortlist.

"But whatever's disappeared I'm fine with, I obviously don't need it. As for things I'd like to forget? I don't think there's anything."

Farrell is Douglas Quaid in Total Recall, a role originally played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1990 film.

The 36-year-old hunk has laughed off any comparisons between him and the legendary action man, insisting they deliver completely different performances.

"I couldn't imagine following in his footsteps. There's just no comparison," Farrell explained when asked how he feels about playing a role made famous by Arnold.

"There's no world where we share any strain of DNA. He has me by like four inches and about 110lb of pure Olympian muscle. The only pressure I felt, and it was only marginal, was what the hyper-critical fans would think. I'm hoping the creation of this movie doesn't negate or erase the creation of the first one at all, because as it stands, it is a really cool film."

Total Recall opens in New Zealand theatres on August 23.

- Cover Media