Daily Show host Jon Stewart left his TV show in order to make his directorial debut, but the film has hit a snag as its intended star is allegedly seeking a bigger paycheck.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's June 21 issue, producers have offered Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal the lead role in Stewart's film Rosewater, set to begin filming in Jordan in mid-July. The deal remains up in the air, as the actor has reportedly asked for more money.

The film's budget is well under that of recent Iran-set film Argo; $10 million versus $44.5 million for Ben Affleck's film.

"The scope and approach of this film is entirely different," a source told the publication. "You had big names in Argo with big paychecks, like Alan Arkin and John Goodman in supporting roles. [Rosewater] isn't about celebrity casting."

The film Rosewater has been adapted from the book Then They Came for Me, a memoir by Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari. The former Newsweek reporter was detained in an Iranian jail for three months in 2009. The film's title comes from the code name of his interrogator, Rosewater.

Bahari appeared on a 2009 Daily Show segment, in which he was interviewed by correspondent Jason Jones ahead of the controversial 2009 elections and the ensuing protest movement surrounding it, known as the Green Revolution. During his detainment, Bahari was accused of working for the American government as a spy. However, the evidence the Iranian authorities produced was Bahari's interview from the Daily Show segment, in which the Canadian-born Jones only pretended to be a spy for comedic effect.

On June 6, when his final show aired before the fall, Stewart described the task he would undertake during his summer break as "going to shoot a little movie."

"I just hope dearly that I don't screw it up," the TV host told his audience.

Check out the 2009 Daily Show segment with journalist Bahari that started it all.

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