Jon Stewart To Leave Daily Show To Direct Movie Drama Rosewater Over Summer

John Oliver Jon Stewart

2:55 pm, March 5th, 2013

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Jon Stewart is leaving “The Daily Show” anchor desk — temporarily.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the late-night series’ longtime host will be taking the summer off to direct Rosewater, a dramatic movie adapted from the book “And Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity and Survival” by Maziar Bahari and Aimee Molloy.

While Stewart is gone, “Daily Show” correspondent John Oliver will act as host.

Rosewater is expected to start shooting overseas in June.

It will be Stewart’s first time directing a movie.

The film’s story has a “Daily Show” connection.

Bahari’s book tells of the journalist’s 2009 trip to cover Iran’s presidential elections, only to be taken into custody, interrogated, and held in captivity for 118 days.

Shortly before his arrest, Bahari had appeared in a “Daily Show” sketch with the correspondent Jason Jones, and his subsequent ordeal left Stewart and his colleagues shaken.

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