Jon Stewart is taking the summer off from “The Daily Show” to direct his first big-screen movie.
Stewart will be off the air for about 12 weeks, beginning in June, while he works on “Rosewater,” which he’s also writing and producing, according to Comedy Central.
“Daily Show” correspondent John Oliver will sub for Stewart for eight weeks of new shows.
“Rosewater” is based on Maziar Bahari’s book, “Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity And Survival,” published in 2011, which tells Bahari’s story of covering Iran’s 2009 presidential elections — and being held captive there for 118 days after being accused of spying.
Part of the “evidence” Iran had against Bahari was an appearance he’d made on “The Daily Show,” according to deadline.com.
Stewart bought the rights to the book about a year ago, according to deadline.com.
This will be the first extensive break Stewart has taken from “The Daily Show” since he began hosting it in 1999.