Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Sets ‘The Fortress of Solitude’ Film Adaptation at Amazon (EXCLUSIVE)

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will mount a film adaptation of “The Fortress of Solitude” at Amazon Studios, continuing his creative relationship with the streaming giant.

Behind the festival hit “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and Benedict Cumberbatch’s “The Current War,” Gomez-Rejon will direct the project based on Jonathan Lethem’s New York Times bestselling novel. Acclaimed playwright Dave Harris is writing the script.

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“The Fortress of Solitude” tells the story of two friends, Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude, who come of age in 1970s Brooklyn. After receiving a magic ring with the directive to fight evil, Dylan and Mingus forge an indelible bond. But as the years pass, their experiences and opportunities grow increasingly disparate. There are things even a magic ring can’t solve: Dylan is white and Mingus is Black, and in America, that makes a world of difference.

The fortress referred to in the title, comic book fans will know, is Superman’s headquarters in early DC titles. Gomez-Rejon will produce and Lethem is on board as executive producer alongside Joshua Malkin. Celeste Holben will serve as associate producer.

Gomez-Rejon directed the pilot of Amazon’s “Hunters” and serves as an executive producer on the series, which is currently shooting its second season. He is also developing “Giant,” a series adaptation of Edna Ferber’s novel that also yielded the iconic 1956 film starring James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.

Writer Harris, a recipient of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize, most recently adapted “Summertime,” which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and is set to release theatrically next month. In theater, he is the Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Roundabout Theatre Company. His play “Tambo & Bones” will be produced at Playwrights Horizons and his “Exception to the Rule” will be produced at Roundabout in 2022.

Lethem is the author of 12 novels, including “As She Climbed Across the Table” and “Chronic City.” His fifth release, “Motherless Brooklyn,” won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and his most recent, “The Arrest,” was published last year. Lethem’s novels and stories have been translated into more than 30 languages, and his stories and essays have been collected in five volumes. Additionally, he is the winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Berlin Prize and the Macarthur 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.

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