Here's Maziar Bahari's Real 'Daily Show' Interview

Certain films we see don't end when the last scene fades to black — in fact, that's just where some, like the 2014 film Rosewater , begin. Especially, as in this instance, when the film in question is based on real life, factual, and troubling events. The subject matter provokes us to dig deeper, research further, and understand how the truth led the fictional interpretation to be made. And, Rosewater , starring Gael Garcia Bernal and directed by Jon Stewart, is certainly based on truth.

In fact, Stewart even plays a part in the real story. If you're not familiar, in 2009 The Daily Show correspondent, Jason Jones, put together a comedic segment entitled "Jason Jones: Behind the Veil - Minarets of Menace." Jones traveled to Iran in order to "expose" what life was like there — in a very obviously sarcastic tone, as is typical of Daily Show segments. Jones toured a town, visited with an Iranian family, and interviewed Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari. He did this in order to humanize Iranians who were projected to be "evil" or distant in Western culture, and did so the Daily Show way, through the use of irony and satire.

Shortly after the interview, that very journalist Jones spoke with, Newsweek reporter Bahari, later faced imprisonment and torture in Iran's notoriously violent and alarmingly inhumane Evin prison — all of which was chronicled in Rosewater — as the Iranian government claimed he was a spy. According to Tribute, the Iranian government cited Jones's mock interview as a part of the "evidence" of Bahari's crime,

"At one point in his interrogation, and as a small part of the fictitious charges placed on him, they played a short segment of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where, during a satirical skit, an actor posed as an American spy in Iran and interviewed Bahari. Stewart invited Bahari on the show several more times after his release and was inspired by his memoir to make the film."

Considering the segment was a major part of Bahari's captivity, it, of course, made it into Rosewater — and it was even recreated by Jones and the actor portraying Bahari, Gael Garcia Bernal. But, if you're curious to see the realinfamous skit, look no further than The Daily Show's website: To view Bahari's initial interview, fast forward to 1:55.

Or, you can view one part below:

There's also a second part, included here:

Image: Busboy Production