Showtime's upcoming two-part mini-series The Comey Rule will bring one of America's most divisive leaders to life on the small-screen just in time for the election. Based on former FBI director James Comey's memoir "A Higher Loyalty," the series stars Jeff Daniels as James Comey and Brendan Gleeson as Donald Trump as it "follows the bureau’s leadership during that tumultuous campaign as they parse Democratic contender Hillary Clinton’s email controversies while simultaneously grappling with evidence that Russia was trying to help Republican Trump win the election."
Vanity Fair has the first look at The Comey Rule, which comes from writer/director Billy Ray (RICHARD JEWELL), and you can check out a handful of photos below. There's also a short teaser trailer, which you can check out below the images.
Billy Ray is all too aware that The Comey Rule will be coming under fire from both sides of the political spectrum. "I recognize that there is something for everyone to hate in this movie, and I know we’re going to be prejudged by a lot of people who think they know who Comey is, who think they know who Trump is, and who think they know exactly what happened in 2016," Ray said. "And I understand how polarized the public is out there. And that’s fair." Less than two weeks before the last election, Comey announced that he would be reopening the investigation into Hilary Clinton's emails, which some point to as a big reason for why she lost the presidency. Jeff Daniels says that the two-part series will try to present an answer to just what Comey was thinking.
That’s exactly the approach I took with it. We will show you what he was thinking, moment to moment. One of the options, to do nothing, is a decision, but it’s not an option for him. As a dramatic character, basic story structure, you want to put your hero between a rock and a hard place, write the hero into a corner, and then he has to overcome the obstacles to come out of it, one way or another. And Comey, what he went through was a rock and hard place.
In terms of Brendan Gleeson's performance as Donald Trump, Bill Ray praised the actor's "courage" for stepping into the role. "Here’s a guy who’s won plenty of awards," Ray said. "He’s had a great career. He’s sitting in Ireland, bothering nobody. This guy needs controversy like he needs a hole in the head. I mean, there’s just no reason to invite the kind of grief that he’s about to catch. And in fact, he actually turned the part down the first time we offered it to him for exactly that reason." The Comey Rule will air on Showtime over two nights beginning on September 27, 2020.