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Gael Garcia Bernal to Lead Jon Stewart's Directorial Debut 'Rosewater'

by Ethan Anderton
May 23, 2013
Source: The Wrap

Earlier this year, we learned that Jon Stewart would take a break this summer from hosting "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central to get behind the camera for his feature directorial debut. Stewart is getting ready to shoot Rosewater, an adaptation of the Maziar Bahari's book Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story Of Love, Captivity And Survival, which he also wrote himself. The film chronicles the harrowing journey the BBC journalist had to endure when he left London to cover Iran's presidential elections in 2009, and now The Wrap reports Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal has landed the lead role in the drama. More below!

Bahari ended up spending 118 days in a notorious Iranian prison where he was brutally interrogated by a man whose defining characteristic is the smell of rosewater (hence the title). Stewart became involved with the story when he leared one of the items used against Bahari in his interrogation was an appearance on "The Daily Show" previously, and then it became a passion project. The TV personality will also produce through his Busboy Productions along with famed producer Scott Rudin of The Social Network.

Bernal's casting is a great move by Stewart, as he's one of the finest imported actors from South of the border. With films like Amores Perros, Y Tu Mamá También, The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel, Blindness and even some comedy with Casa de mi Padre with Will Ferrell in his past, Bernal has proven to be a very powerful actor. Next month, Stewart will begin hiatus from his show and comedian John Oliver will take over for what will be eight weeks of new episodes (that's 32 episodes with their schedule). We're pretty excited to see what a comedian like Stewart can do behind the camera with a drama like this.

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