Edward Norton’s ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ film

“Motherless Brooklyn,” the film being shot in the Harlem building that caught fire Thursday night, has been a passion project for Edward Norton, who spent nearly 20 years trying to get the film off the ground.

The film is an adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s acclaimed 1999 novel about a detective with Tourette syndrome living in 1950s Brooklyn. In addition to playing the lead role, Norton also wrote the script and serves as producer and director — only his second time behind the camera after the 2000 comedy “Keeping the Faith.” Norton first began trying to adapt Lethem’s novel the year it was published and had announced the project as a go in 2014.

The film, which also stars Bobby Cannavale, Bruce Willis, Cherry Jones and Massapequa’s Alec Baldwin, began shooting in New York City in February. It also touched down at two Long Island locations — Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage and, earlier this week, the Wantagh State Parkway near Jones Beach.