Lionsgate recently announced that is has acquired the film rights to Jack Finney’s illustrated novel “Time and Again.”  The project will be directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith).  Liman will also produce the project alongside his Hypnotic partner Dave Bartis.

Published in 1970, the romantic time-travel novel tells the story of Simon Morley, a Manhattan illustrator who enlists in a secret government experiment which transports him to 1882 New York. While there, he falls in love and must choose between living in the present or the past.

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?

The book sold 27,000 copies in hardcover, and more than 200,000 copies over the years, according to Variety.

“From Time to Time,” the novel’s sequel, was published in 1996, one year after his death. The sequel left room for a third and final installment that will never be written due to the author’s death.

Erik Feig, Mike Paseornek, Gillian Bohrer and Jeyun Choi will oversee the project for Lionsgate, according to Variety.

This is not the first time the book has been eyed for adaptation. In the mid-1990s, Robert Redford began developing the project after Paul Newman introduced him to the book.  Tom Thayer, former president of Universal Television, attempted to adapt the work into a network miniseries.

While numerous filmmakers have considered the job, it has yet to be completed by anyone.

Throughout his career, Liman has proven himself to be a versatile director, with projects ranging from indie flicks (Swingers and Go) to action (The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith), and even science fiction  with 2008’s thriller Jumper.

Liman is currently working on Warner Bros.’ All You Need is Kill, which will star Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.