Comedy CentralJon Stewart, film director? Don't laugh.
E! News confirms that The Daily Show host plans to take a 12-week break this summer from his longtime Comedy Central perch to make his feature directorial debut.
Stewart will direct Rosewater, a political drama for which he wrote the screenplay. The film will be based on Then They Came For Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity and Survival, a memoir by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari.
The film chronicles Bahari's amazing story: After leaving behind his pregnant fiancée in London to go cover the 2009 Iranian elections, Bahari was arrested and incarcerated for 118 days in the country's notorious Evin prison where he says he was regularly beaten and accused of being a foreign agent.
The title Rosewater was the nickname Bahari gave to his interrogator, because he smelled like the perfume. Also notable, this interrogator was also obsessed with Stewart's home state of New Jersey.
Go figure.
Bahari's story also has a personal connection to the Emmy-winning comedy series, since his interrogator accused the reporter of being a spy based on Bahari's mock interview with The Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones.
In fact, in an interview with Bahari about his ordeal in June 2011, Stewart praised him, saying, "Your ability to connect the story to your family, and the nuances you pick up, even from your captor, is incredible."
While the comedian's on leave, Daily Show Sr. British correspondent John Oliver will fill in for him at the anchor desk and tape eight weeks' worth of original episodes Monday through Thursday with four weeks of reruns built into the hiatus.