Originally published in 1970, Jack Finney's Time and Again is another in a long line of cherished novels that everybody wants to see get made into a feature film, but nobody ever quite gets the job done. Jack Kerouac's On the Road was trapped in this development nightmare for decades, and so was A Confederacy of Dunces. Both of those films have recently found new life, and now the same can be said for Time and Again as Lionsgate not only picked up the rights, but also has the guy in mind to direct it.
Doug Liman is the latest to take a crack at the film, which was initially optioned by Paul Newman and attempted by Robert Redford in the 1990s. A romantic sci-fi yarn set in mid-20th century New York, the story follows Simon Morley, an illustrator who enlists in a government program and is sent back in time to 1882. There he falls in love and is forced to make a decision between his life there, or returning to the present. Finney, who also wrote the sci-fi classic, The Body Snatchers, also wrote a sequel title From Time to Time, which was published after his death. He also had plans of writing a third film, but never got around to it.. Yep, I smell franchise!
Hopefully Liman is the guy who can finally get this film off the ground. He's been a particular favorite of mine ever since he debuted with Swingers back in 1996(!!!), and then followed it up with the Pulp Fiction knock-off, Go. He last directed the excellent political thriller, Fair Game, and he's been steadily lining up projects the last couple of years. Liman is set to direct Tom Cruise in All You Need is Kill, which was only recently green lit. So it's unclear when Time and Again would get underway, but we may be in for a wait. [Variety]
