Watch the harrowing first trailer for Rosewater, Jon Stewart's directorial debut


Last year, Jon Stewart took an extended leave of absence from The Daily Show to direct his first movie, Rosewater, based on the harrowing true story of Maziar Bahari's incarceration in Iran. With the release of the first trailer for Rosewater, fans can finally get a glimpse of the passion project that pulled Stewart away from his Comedy Central series.
Rosewater stars Gael Garcia Bernal as Bahari, a journalist who was held captive and interrogated by the Iranian government for five months in 2009. "You must not just take his blood," instructs an interrogator as they attempt to manipulate Bahari into breaking down. "You must take his hope." As the film goes on, Bahari develops his own coping techniques, thwarting his captors as he fights to survive both physically and mentally.
Rosewater hits theaters on November 7. --Scott Meslow
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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.
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