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'Daily Show' Host Jon Stewart Taking Break to Direct 'Rosewater' Drama

by Ethan Anderton
March 5, 2013
Source: Deadline

If you're a fan of seeing comedian Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" regularly, we have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that Stewart will be leaving the late night, news satire program for 12 weeks this summer. The good news is this hiatius will be for him to make his feature directorial debut with Rosewater, an adaptation of the Maziar Bahari's book Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story Of Love, Captivity And Survival. Stewart also wrote the script himself which will chronicle the harrowing journey the BBC journalist had to endure when he left London to cover Iran's presidential elections in 2009. Read on!

However, rather than just getting a week's worth of reporting, he ended up captured for 118 days in one of Iran's most infamous prisons where he was violently interrogated. Here's Bahari talking about the book:

The title comes from the fact that Bahari only knew his interrogator by the fact that he smelled of Rosewater. That sounds like quite the departure for the comedian who skewers the headlines, and if the story touched him enough to draw him away from his day job, it must be one hell of a passion project. His connection to the project comes from the fact that one of the items used against Bahari in his interrogation was an appearance on "The Daily Show" previously. Stewart will also produce through his Busboy Productions along with famed producer Scott Rudin of Moonrise Kingdom and The Social Network.

So what will happen with "The Daily Show" this summer? Deadline says correspondent and comedian John Oliver will take over for what will be eight weeks of new episodes (that's 32 episodes for those who don't know how their schedule works). Stewart himself will be away from the show for 12 weeks to work on the film. Though I'm bummed that we won't see Stewart behind his desk for the summer, it's inspiring to see him actively take on a story like this, especially since he hasn't written or directed a feature film until now. Here's hoping Oliver can keep things fresh in his stead. Sound good?

Filed under Development, Movie News

From around the web:

OfficialJab

Sounds great, I have no doubt that it will be outstanding. Also, where are you guys on this Resident Evil 6 scoop?
- http://www.facebook.com/matt.peloquin.14 Matt Peloquin
  
  I wouldn't use the word "scoop" when talking about anything related to Resident Evil unless you're "scooping" it out of the $.99 dvd bin at Walmart.
  - OfficialJab
    
    Hey, that was pretty good. I actually like those movies because they're funny and the music is mostly very good. Didn't see Retribution yet, though.
    - http://www.facebook.com/matt.peloquin.14 Matt Peloquin
      
      I'm actually right there with you, but couldn't pass up an opportunity for a good pun. However, after enjoying all of them thoroughly and playing all the games, the most recent one was simply unwatchable.
- http://www.firstshowing.net/ Ethan Anderton
  
  It's just a release date for now, so we'll add it to the calendar. There's no word on whether Paul W.S. Anderson will be back, plot details or anything like that, so we're not really concerned with it as a story just yet.
  - OfficialJab
    
    I sort of hope that he's not. As a producer he likely will be, but that franchise needs a drastic new direction. And a much smaller scale.
THEBATMAN

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy camper

Even if its horrible he will win every award.
http://twitter.com/incarnedine_v Dan Hibiki

John Oliver to replace the interview segment with a half hour pun run.