Jon Stewart will be taking a break from being a comedian in order to direct his first feature film. The Daily Show host will be taking a 12-week hiatus sometime this Summer. John Oliver will fill in as host.
According to The Hollywood Reporter , Stewart will be using his time off to direct the movie Rosewater. The movie, which is based on the book Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story Of Love, Captivity And Survival, will be Stewart’s first attempt at directing.
Stewart is best known as the host of the Comedy Central news program but he does have some experience in film. Of course, Stewart’s movies have never really been dramatic. He played a stoner in the movie Half Baked, an alien teacher in The Faculty, and a “rollerblader” in Mixed Nuts.
Stewart has, of course, matured since his he played in “an enhancement smoker” in Half Baked. But is he ready to tackle a dramatic film?
Stewart told the NY Times :
“I am a television person who is accustomed to having a thought at 10 a.m. and having it out there at 6:30 p.m. and moving on, so this is a little scary, yes … But one of the reasons we are in this business is to challenge ourselves and I really connected to Maziar’s story. It’s a personal story but one with universal appeal about what it means to be free.”
Stewart is referring to Maziar Bahari, a Canadian-iranian journalist who was jailed in Tehran for four months in 2009 after he was accused of being a spy.
Why was Bahari considered a spy? Well, the journalist actually filmed a segment pretending to be a spy for The Daily Show. His captors ended up using the footage against him.
After his arrest, Bahari returned to The Daily Show for an interview with Jon Stewart.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook
In addition to directing the movie, Stewart also wrote and will produce the film. Rosewater is expected to start filming this June. While Jon is away making his directing his big movie debut John Oliver will fill in as host.
