Gael García Bernal was on The Tonight Show promoting his new film Rosewater this past Monday. The host, Jimmy Fallon, dug up an old clip of the Mexican novela Gael starred in as a young boy, El abuelo y yo. In the clip, little Gael is very sad and just as a tear rolls down his face the studio audience explodes in laughter. Grown up Gael is not amused.
When Fallon asked about his new film, Gael gushed about working with Jon Stewart (who wrote and directed Rosewater), “I love him. He is great. He is incredible to work with.”
In Rosewater, Gael plays a real life journalist, Maziar Bahari. The film is based on his memoir “Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival” in which Tehran-born Bahari recounts being arrested and tortured in Iran. The Revolutionary Guard police believed he shared secrets with an American spy and submitted a clip of his appearance on The Daily Show as evidence. He was held for more than 100 days. After the book was released, Jon Stewart became determined to adapt the story for the screen. He took a short hiatus from hosting The Daily Show to shoot the film. Check out the trailer.
Rosewater opens in theaters on November 14.