Eric Bana has signed on to star in The Time Traveler’s Wife, New Line Cinema’s adaptation of the Audrey Niffenegger novel being directed by Robert Schwentke, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Rachel McAdams, who was earmarked for the project in the early stages, is in final negotiations to play the woman in love with Bana’s time-traveling librarian character.

The novel tells the story of a librarian (Bana) who has a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel forward and backward. During his travels, he falls in love with a woman (McAdams), but the problem is that while the man’s age darts back and forth depending on his location in time, the woman’s progresses in a normal manner; thus, the two are often out of sync.

Jeremy Leven and Bruce Joel Rubin wrote the adaptation, while Plan B and Nick Wechsler are producing the film.