Stewart to make directing debut with political drama.
Comedian-turned-actor-turned-television host Jon Stewart is set to step behind the camera for his first directorial effort, ‘Rosewater,’ a drama that he will direct while on hiatius from his satirical program ‘The Daily Show.’
‘Rosewater,’ a journalist’s story of his entry into the family business – government imprisonment and political incarceration in Iran – was written by Stewart and is based on BBC journalist Maziar Bahari’s memoir ‘Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival.’
The book tells of Bahari’s harrowing ordeal of leaving London in June 2009 to cover Iran’s presidential elections. Expecting to be back in just a few days, a week at the most, the journalist assured his pregnant fiancée he would be safe. Little did he know, as he kissed her good-bye, that he would spend the next three months in Iran’s most notorious prison, falsely accused of being a spy. Bahari endured brutal interrogation sessions at the hands of a man he knew only by his smell: Rosewater.
‘Rosewater’ will be produced by Stewart’s production company, Busboy Productions, along with Scott Rudin Productions and Odd Lot Entertainment.