Jeff Daniels to Star as Former FBI Director James Comey in CBS Studios' 4-Hour Limited Series
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Jeff Daniels is once again getting the attention of the Feds.
The Emmy-winning actor has been tapped to star as former FBI Director James Comey in a forthcoming CBS Studios limited series based on Comey’s bestselling book, A Higher Loyalty. Daniels, coincidentally, recently played another noteworthy G-man — former FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill — in Hulu’s similarly ripped-from-the-headlines miniseries The Looming Tower.
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Oscar-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray (Captain Phillips, Shattered Glass) penned the adaptation and will direct the as-yet-untitled project, which is being exec produced by Alex Kurtzman, Shane Salerno and Heather Kadin.
The cast also includes Brendan Gleeson (Mr. Mercedes) as President Trump, Michael Kelly (House of Cards) as Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Jennifer Ehle (A Gifted Man) as Comey’s wife Patrice.
CBS executives will decide closer to the limited series’ TBD airdate whether it will air on Showtime or CBS All Access (or potentially both).
“Jeff is so perfect for this part,” declared Ray in a statement to TVLine. “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.”
As research for the project, Ray traveled to Washington, D.C. and several other cities to meet with Comey, his family, and many other key players, including prominent journalists, FBI agents, government officials from both political parties and others.
In A Higher Loyalty, Comey recounts his tumultuous 2013-2017 stint as the nation’s seventh FBI director, during which he oversaw the Hillary Clinton email investigation as well as possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The book also details Trump’s very public firing of Comey in May 2017.
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