{"id":18074,"date":"2014-09-03T07:40:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T13:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=18074"},"modified":"2014-09-04T09:58:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T15:58:52","slug":"jon-stewart-on-filming-in-and-talking-about-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/jon-stewart-on-filming-in-and-talking-about-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Stewart on filming in &#8212; and talking about &#8212; the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By TALIA LAVIN<\/p>\n<p>NEW YORK (JTA) &#8212; Jon Stewart\u2019s directorial film debut, &#8220;Rosewater,&#8221; is set to premiere at film festivals in the United States and Canada this September. So the Hollywood Reporter took the opportunity to grab some golden quotes (and glam shots) of the iconic \u201cDaily Show\u201d comedian about filming in the Middle East \u2014 and his own take on the region\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rosewater&#8221; tells a story that Stewart was drawn to because of his own real-life involvement: The film is adapted from the memoir of Maziar Bahari, a journalist taken captive by the Iranian government just days after appearing on a \u201cDaily Show\u201d segment. Clips of the segment were used in Bahari\u2019s interrogation as \u201cproof\u201d that Bahari was acting as a spy (although perhaps this just confirms that Revolutionary Guard members in Iran are not widely known for their senses of humor).<\/p>\n<p>Stewart filmed the movie in Amman, Jordan, which proved challenging due to the lack of an established film industry in the area.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18110\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"John Stewart\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/488490699.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18110\" class=\"wp-image-18110 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/488490699-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Spike TV's &quot;Don Rickles: One Night Only&quot; - Show\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/488490699-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/488490699-1024x680.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/199;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18110\" class=\"wp-image-18110 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/488490699-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Spike TV's &quot;Don Rickles: One Night Only&quot; - Show\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/488490699-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/488490699-1024x680.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-18110\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Comedian and host Jon Stewart speaks onstage at Spike TV&#8217;s &#8216;Don Rickles: One Night Only&#8217; on May 6, 2014 in New York City. (Theo Wargo\/Getty Images for Spike TV)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Israel, despite its well-established film infrastructure, was not considered as a location, Stewart told the Hollywood Reporter: \u201cYou&#8217;ve already got a Jewish guy directing it. They&#8217;re already putting out seven-minute pieces, the Iranian press, that I&#8217;m a CIA and a Mossad agent. So the last thing we want to do is add fuel to that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Even so, the Iranian government has used Stewart\u2019s Jewishness to discredit the upcoming film, postulating in state media that Rosewater was sponsored by Stewart\u2019s Jewish \u201cmasters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I guess I&#8217;m still waiting for the money,&#8221; Stewart said to suggestions that a \u201cZionist lobby\u201d helped him fund the film.<\/p>\n<p>Back at home in his regular role as one of TV\u2019s most recognizable faces, and a pioneer of the faux-news genre, Stewart has received criticism from the opposite end of the Middle East spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>At first, Stewart drew ire from vocal Zionists when he expressed sympathy for the Palestinians in Gaza and drew attention to the asymmetrical nature of the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Then he ran a popular segment attesting to the difficulty of having rational, dispassionate conversations about the Israel-Gaza conflict, due to the polarizing nature of the conflict (but it\u2019s funnier than we&#8217;ve made it sound):<\/p>\n<p>On accusations of being a \u201cself-hating Jew,\u201d Stewart made a strong distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism \u2014 a heated topic of discussion in recent weeks, as anti-Semitic incidents have vastly increased in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look, there&#8217;s a lot of reasons why I hate myself \u2014 being Jewish isn&#8217;t one of them,&#8221; Stewart told the reporter. &#8220;So when someone starts throwing that around, or throwing around you&#8217;re pro-terrorist, it&#8217;s more just disappointing than anything else. I&#8217;ve made a living for 16 years criticizing certain policies that I think are not good for America. That doesn&#8217;t make me anti-American. And if I do the same with Israel, that doesn&#8217;t make me anti-Israel.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You cannot outsmart dogma, no matter what you do. If there is something constructive in what they&#8217;re saying, hopefully I&#8217;m still open enough \u2026 to take it in and let it further inform my position. But I&#8217;m pretty impermeable to yelling. As soon as they go to, &#8216;Your real name is Leibowitz!&#8217; that&#8217;s when I change the channel.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Jon%20Stewart%20on%20filming%20in%20--%20and%20talking%20about%20--%20the%20Middle%20East\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5953,8790,8795,2258,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18074"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18074"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18112,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18074\/revisions\/18112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}