First Trailer and Poster for Jon Stewart's Directorial Debut 'Rosewater' Starring Gael Garcia Bernal

Remember when Jon Stewart was just one of many faces on MTV?  Sure, he had the network's first legit talk show but did anybody expect him to become who he is now? While that show was short-lived it gained him a lot of fans, enough that when Craig Kilborn exited The Daily Show (talk about lame career moves) it was Stewart who took over. The rest, as they say, is history, and now Stewart sets his sights on some Oscar gold with his directorial debut, Rosewater.

The first trailer for Rosewater has been released and it looks like a sure-fire contender, which might explain the late year release date. Gael Garcia Bernal stars as journalist Maziar Bahari who went to Iran covering the presidential elections only to be arrested an detained for 118 days. During that time he was subject to extremely harsh interrogation by a captor who smelled like rosewater. It's material that's right in Stewart's wheelhouse, and he was inspired to make the film after reading Bahari's memoir and interviewing him on The Daily Show. It was an earlier appearance on the show that  Bahari's captors used against him during interrogations to try and prove he was a spy, and it will be interesting to see if that aspect is covered in the film.

Co-starring Shohreh Aghdashloo and Kim Bodina, Rosewater will debut at Telluride before opening on November 7th.



Rosewater Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Gael García Bernal, Jon Stewart Drama HD by MovieTrailerz

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Salma Hayek Leads 'The Septembers of Shiraz'; Christoph Waltz Joins 'Tulip Fever'

* With news emerging over the weekend that Salma Hayek's single-room action flick Everly has been picked up for U.S. distribution, the actress is jumping ahead into her next project. She will join the criminally underused Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) in The Septembers of Shiraz. Promisingly, the adaptation of Dalia Sofer's Iran-set novel will be directed by Wayne Blair (The Sapphires), with Gerard Butler producing. Taking place during the 1981 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the story centers on a Jewish family "as they try to come together and escape the deadly tyranny. Hayek will play the mother while Aghdashloo is the family’s housekeeper, whose son used to work for the gem dealer but is not part of the Revolutionary Guard." Salma Hayek playing a Jewish woman sounds a little sketchy, but we'll see how it all turns out.

* Never one to go too long without a new film under his belt, Christoph Waltz has agreed to join Alicia Vikander and Dane DeHaan in Tulip Fever, the 17th-century story about an illicit affair between a painter and the wife of a wealthy merchant during a time when tulipmania had struck Amsterdam.  Justin Chadwick (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) is directing based on Deborah Moggach's novel. Production should begin in April, marking the end of a long road which saw Jude Law and Matthias Schoenaerts circling roles before they both dropped out. [THR]

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