Jumper and The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman should be used to lead characters that either magically disappear and reappear, or claim to be something that they’re not.
So it’s no wonder that Lionsgate has chosen him to helm a feature film adaption of Jack Finneys’ 1970 time-hopping illustrated novel Time and Again.
Described as a romantic time travel story, it follows Simon (Si) Morley, who in an attempt to help his girlfriend resolve a century old mystery, volunteers for a military experiment that sends him back to 1882. But there Morley meets and falls in love with another young woman, and so finds himself torn between two worlds and two women.
Finney’s novel has had a troubled history in making it to the big screen. Robert Redford unsuccessfully attempted the most high profile adaptation back in in the mid-90’s, but there have been several other stabs at developing it as either a feature film or TV series over the years. Conversely, Finney’s earlier novel, The Body Snatchers, has seen multiple adaptations in multiple formats over the last few decades. Lets hope that now that Lionsgate has the rights, that they have better success with it.
There’s been no talk of a possible cast yet, and with Liman about to start work with another big budget science fiction spectacular in the form of Tom Cruise’s All You Need is Kill, it’s not quite sure when the cameras will start rolling on this one.
Here’s the synopsis of the book:
“Sleep. And when you awake everything you know of the twentieth century will be gone from your mind. Tonight is January 21, 1882. There are no such things as automobiles, no planes, computers, television. ‘Nuclear’ appears in no dictionary. You have never heard the name Richard Nixon.”
Did illustrator Si Morley really step out of his twentieth-century apartment one night — right into the winter of 1882? The U.S. Government believed it, especially when Si returned with a portfolio of brand-new sketches and tintype photos of a world that no longer existed — or did it?
Last Updated: July 27, 2012
