Editing Metropolis (1927 film) (section)

===Pre-production===
''Metropolis''<nowiki/>'s screenplay was written by Thea von Harbou, a popular writer in Weimar Germany, jointly with Lang, her then-husband.{{sfn|Magid|2006|p=129}}{{sfn|Grant|2003|p=14}} The film's plot originated from a [[Metropolis (novel)|novel of the same title]] written by Harbou for the sole purpose of being made into a film. The novel in turn drew inspiration from [[H. G. Wells]], [[Mary Shelley]] and [[Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam|Villiers de l'Isle-Adam]]'s works and other German dramas.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=9}} The novel featured strongly in the film's marketing campaign, and was serialized in the journal ''Illustriertes Blatt'' in the run-up to its release. Harbou and Lang collaborated on the screenplay derived from the novel, and several plot points and thematic elements—including most of the references to magic and occultism present in the novel—were dropped.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=12}}

{{stack|[[File:Fritz Lang und Thea von Harbou, 1923 od. 1924 crop2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Lang and Harbou in their Berlin apartment, about the time they were working on the scenario for ''Metropolis'' (ca 1923 or 1924)]]}}
The screenplay itself went through many rewrites, and at one point featured an ending where Freder flew to the stars; this plot element later became the basis for Lang's ''[[Woman in the Moon]]''.{{sfn|Minden|Bachmann|2002|p=12}} The time setting of ''Metropolis'' is open to interpretation. The 2010 re-release and reconstruction, which incorporated the original title cards written by Thea von Harbou, do not specify a year. Before the reconstruction, Lotte Eisner and Paul M. Jensen placed the events happening around the year 2000.{{sfn|Eisner|1986|p=83}}{{sfn|Jensen|1969|p=59}} Giorgio Moroder's re-scored version included a title card placing the film in 2026, while Paramount's original US release said the film takes place in 3000.<ref name=NYT>{{cite web |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A05E2D8143BE13ABC4F53DFB566838C639EDE |author-link=Mordaunt Hall |author=Hall, Mordaunt |title=Movie review Metropolis (1927) A Technical Marvel |date=7 March 1927}}</ref>

A note in one edition of Harbou's novel says that the story does not take place at any particular place or time, in the past or the future. Meanwhile, the 1963 Ace Books edition, which is a reprint of the 1927 English edition, specifies the setting as "The World of 2026 A.D.".{{fact|date=September 2024}}