For those that don’t know Jon Stewart is taking 12 weeks off “The Daily Show” this summer to make his directorial debut, Rosewater. The film is a drama, based on the book Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story Of Love, Captivity and Survival by Maziar Bahari and Aimee Molloy. Maziar Bahari, a BBC journalist was detained in Iran while covering the 2009 elections. What was supposed to be a week turned into 118 days in captivity at Evin prison in northwestern Tehran. While captive he was interrogated repeatedly by a man who always smelled of rose water.
Jon Stewart has cast Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal in the starring role as the Iranian Canadian journalist. Bernal is best known for films like Y Tu Mama Tambien, Amores Perros, Babel, The Motorcycle Diaries, the Will Ferrell Spanish-language comedy, Casa de mi Padre and most recently the Oscar-nominated No where he played Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Filming is set to start in June while comedian John Oliver will be hosting The Daily Show in Stewart‘s absence.
