Brendan Gleeson, Jeff Daniels to play Trump, James Comey in upcoming miniseries
Brendan Gleeson and Jeff Daniels are headed to Washington.
The stars of Harry Potter and The Newsroom will be playing President Trump and former FBI Director James Comey, respectively, in a four-hour miniseries that’s in the works by CBS Studios. Michael Kelly (House of Cards) has also signed on to play acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, while Jennifer Ehle will play Comey’s wife Patrice.
The project will be based on Comey’s bestselling book, A Higher Loyalty. Billy Ray (Captain Phillips) adapted the book and will direct the untitled miniseries, which will begin production in November. It currently has no airdate or home — yet; it could end up on Showtime or CBS All Access.
Comey served as FBI director from 2013 to May 2017, at which time Trump fired him. The next month, Comey had a friend leak his 2017 memo to the press about a private meeting with Trump, who asked him to end the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
“Jeff is so perfect for this part,” said Ray in a statement. “Great actor, instant integrity, loads of warmth, intelligence, complexity and gravitas. We talked backstage after I saw him in To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, and I knew I was looking at the only person who could play Jim Comey. Lucky for me, he said yes.”
“It’s hard to imagine a bigger acting challenge than playing Donald Trump,” Ray continued in a statement about Gleeson, who’s currently starring on Audience network’s Mr. Mercedes. “You have to have presence, and a singular kind of dynamism. You also have to have the courage and the will to play Trump’s psychology from the inside out. Oh, and you have to be spectacularly talented and watchable. Not many actors check all those boxes. Brendan does. I’m ecstatic about this.
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