The Next Argo? Jon Stewart To Direct Iranian Movie Rosewater

The Next Argo? Jon Stewart To Direct Iranian Movie Rosewater

The Daily Show stalwart and everybody's favourite satirist Jon Stewart will be going on a temporary hiatus from the show that bears his name this summer, with Deadline reporting that the comic will be directing his first film whilst he is away from the hit show.

Stewart's first venture behind the camera is for the adaptation of the Maziar Bahari memoir Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story Of Love, Captivity And Survival. The adaptation, which has been given the more movie poster appropriate title of Rosewater, tells the story of Bahari's time in a Iranian prison, where the Iranian/Canadian journalist was locked away for 118 days in 2009. During his absence form the Daily Show, DS writer and Community star John Oliver will be taking his place for eight of the twelve weeks that Stewart will be away, with hosts for the other four unconfirmed.

Bahari and Stewart first struck up a friendship after the journalist's appearance on the Daily Show prior to his arrest in Iran, with Iranian authorities citing his appearance on the show as proof that he was a spy. Following his release Bahari has appeared on the Daily Show two other times, his most recent appearance coming in 2011. Despite Stewart's comedic background, Rosewater will be a serious film so don't go see it expecting a satirical look at Iranian prisons. Filming will begin this summer.

Jon Stewart collects his Emmy at the 64th annual awards show earlier this year