Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, the director of “Me And Earl and the Dying Girl,” will next direct a filmed adaptation of “The Fortress of Solitude,” the acclaimed, best-selling novel by Jonathan Lethem, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
“The Fortress of Solitude” is set at Amazon Studios and will be adapted by playwright Dave Harris for the screen. Gomez-Rejon will also produce.
The film is based on Lethem’s semi-autobiographical novel from 2003 about two teenagers in 1970s Brooklyn, one white and one Black, who discover a magic ring with the directive to fight against evil. The book grapples with racial politics of the time, gentrification and music culture.
Lethem will also executive produce the film alongside Joshua Malkin. Celeste Holben will associate produce.
Gomez-Rejon is known for “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “The Current War” with Benedict Cumberbatch, and he also directed the pilot of the Amazon series “Hunters” and is an executive producer on the series. He’s also developing “Giant,” a series adaptation of Edna Ferber’s novel.
Harris won the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Award and most recently adapted “Summertime,” which premiered at last year’s Sundance and will hit theaters next month.
Lethem has written 12 novels and his fifth “Motherless Brooklyn” was adapted into a film directed by Edward Norton. Two of his short stories have also been adapted to film, and he’s a winner of the Macarthur “Genius” Fellowship.
Gomez-Rejon is represented by CAA, Ziffren Brittenham and ID. Harris is represented by Heroes and Villains Entertainment, UTA and Morris Yorn. Lethem is represented by WME.
Variety first reported the news.