Fritz Lang's 'METROPOLIS' to be revisited
The grand skyscrapes of the sci-fi classic will rise again in a sound-era remake.
Munich-based producer Thomas Schuehly (Alexander) is partnering with Mario Kassar (Rambo) on an updated version of Fritz Lang's 1927 silent sci-fi classic Metropolis, reports Variety's ED MEZA.
Kassar and Schuehly, who obtained the remake rights from Vienna-based publishing group Sessler Verlag, are talking with several premiere directors, toward a final decision in the coming months.
One of the early cinema groundbreakers, and the grandparent of the Sci-Fi genre, Metropolis has overtly influenced such flicks as James Whale's Frankenstein, Dr. Strangelove and 2001, Blade Runner, Gattaca and The Matrix. Comics legend Jerry Siegel even stated that he named Superman's hometown after Lang's opus.
One of the most expensive films of its time is set in a massive future city-state packed with awe-inspiring art-deco architecture, in which live the wealthy ruling class, whose lifestyles are sustained on the backs of the workers underground. The images of the workers traveling to and from their labors have lost none of their power in eighty years.
"With the overwhelming role technology plays in our daily lives, the growing gap between rich and poor, including the gradual elimination of the middle class," said Schuehly, "the story of Metropolis is a frightening reflection of our society that takes place in an all too possible not too distant future."