The Comey Rule, a new series about the fraught dynamic between former FBI Director James Comey and President Donald Trump, will make its impact ahead of the election. In late September, two Emmy-winning actors will assume the lead roles, with Jeff Daniels playing Comey and Brendan Gleeson playing Trump. Here’s everything we know about the high-profile limited series, including a splashy first trailer and that switch from a November to September premiere date.
About the series
Comey Rule season 1 is a mini-series about the seventh FBI Director James Comey, who was fired from his post after a conflict with Donald Trump.
Barack Obama made him head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and had to leave when the United States was headed by Donald Tram. For the mafia, his surname has become synonymous with “big problem”, thanks to him, the American government has reconsidered its attitude to torture and electronic surveillance. He oversaw the investigation into the email hacking of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and as a result, he was accused of having ties with Russia, and was dismissed in May 2017. Former FBI Director James Comey told about all this and even more in the book “Supreme Loyalty”. It was published on April 17, 2018 and a day later, on April 19, it became the best-selling book on Amazon. A week after the release, more than 600,000 copies were sold.
To ignore such popularity would be to miss out on profits, and in September 2018, CBS acquired the rights to film a 304-page account of life in the highest echelons of American power.
The miniseries based on Comey’s memoirs are directed and written by Billy Ray. This became known in October 2019, and filming began in November of the same year. In order to better understand his character, Ray met James Comey several times.
The director already has a film based on real events. The script for the thriller Captain Phillips (2013) is based on the book Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Seals and the Dangers of the Sea. Thriller starring Tom Hanks and a budget of $ 55 million grossed 218 million and received good criticism, and 6 Oscar nominations.
However, Billy Ray’s Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as Best Picture, went to 12 Years a Slave.
Billy Ray will also executive produce, as will Alex Kurtzman, who wrote the scripts for the first Transformers, Star Trek, and Star Trek: Into Darkness. In 2018, Kurtzman signed a five-year contract with CBS TV-Studios for miniseries, and more importantly, Star Trek: Picard.
Two-time Emmy winner Jeff Daniels has been confirmed for the role of James Comey. For the first time he received this prize in 2013 for the main role in the TV series “News Service”, and the second award was presented to him in 2017 for his supporting role in the western series “Forgotten by God.” His wife will be played by Briton, two-time Tony Award winner Jennifer Ehle.
The role of the 44th US President Barack Obama was given to Kingsley Ben-Adir, known for his roles in the TV series Peaky Blinders and OA. Irishman Brendan Gleeson will play 45th US President Donald Trump. Probably his best-known role is the hitman Ken from Lay Down in Bruges. However, the only Emmy in his career earned him the role of Winston Churchill in the movie Into the Storm.
Prosecutor Robert Mueller, whose investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia has seriously weakened Trump’s position, will be played by Peter Coyote (Kika, Bitter Moon, Erin Brockovich).
Cast
Actor
Jeff Daniels – James Comey
Brendan Gleeson – Donald Trump
Holly Hunter – Sally Yates
Michael Kelly – Andrew McCabe
Jennifer Ehle – Patrice Comey
Scoot McNairy – Rod Rosenstein
Jonathan Banks – James Clapper
Oona Chaplin – Lisa Page
Steven Pasquale – Peter Strzok
Peter Coyote – Robert Mueller
Director
Billy Ray
Script
Billy Ray
Book template
James Comey
Production
Heather Kadin
Alex Kurtzman
Shane Salerno
The Comey Rule Cast and Trump’s Reaction
The cast and crew of The Comey Rule are preparing to fight President Donald Trump. During the Showtime team about the upcoming series, stars Jeff Daniels and Michael Kelly and writer/director Billy Ray have expressed that they expect Trump to “hate” the two-part show, as it shows him positively. “At least, I’m looking forward to the nickname it says on Twitter,” joked Ray.
Written and directed by Billy Ray (The Hunger Games, Richard Jewell), The Comey Rule sets out the tense relationship between FBI director James Comey (played by Jeff Daniels) and Donald Trump (Brendan Gleeson). The first episode focuses mainly on the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server, while the second removes the action in the office’s investigation into Russia’s 2016 election disruption.
“The reason I did this was that I felt that the Russian people had a big and negative impact on our political process in 2016, and I wanted the American public to know about that before going to the polls in 2020,” Ray said during a panel appearance Thursday. “We had the opportunity to bring them into the chambers where these decisions were being made.”
Given the timely news and the first day of The Comey Rule’s show in late September, actors and staff expect President Trump to issue some condemnation of the clergy – and Gleeson is out of control. Ray said the actor is currently in Ireland, where he will be “very far away” from any actor “who will get it from our current president.”
“I stopped predicting how Trump would react to things five years ago,” Ray joked when asked about the President’s explosion. “I think it’s possible the IRS will start investigating my taxes.”
While The Comey Rule openly opposed Trump, Ray, Daniels, Kelly, and other show stars insisted that they “did not make this series to change people’s votes” in the presidential election. “I didn’t do this to disrupt anyone’s vote, but I think it’s important,” Kelly said. “I don’t care which side of the passage you are on.”
Daniels added that even the most politically savvy observers would learn something new about Comey, describing him as a “politically neutral” person throughout the 2016 election. “This is because Comey did what he did,” said the veteran actor. “Even if you think you know everything about the Russian investigation and Comy’s subsequent shooting,” Daniels said, “Here’s another side. He decides. See you on November 3.”
