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CULTURE

Jeff Daniels to Play James Comey in Upcoming Miniseries

Jeff Daniels, James Comey
Jeff Daniels at the Montclair Film Festival 2018. (Photo: Montclair Film Festival) FBI Director James B. Comey provides remarks on civil rights and law enforcement at the historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on May 25, 2016. (Photo: FBI)

Former FBI director James Comey who has called Donald Trump unfit to be president will be featured in a sure-to-be dramatic miniseries based on Comey’s memoirs of his time during and after the 2016 election.

Emmy-award winning actor Jeff Daniels (“The Newsroom”, “Godless”) will portray former FBI director James Comey for a CBS miniseries, based on Comey’s book “A Higher Loyalty.” Also starring is Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter) as President Donald Trump.

Recalling his 2013-17 tenure as FBI director, Comey’s memoir was published in April 2018 and has since sold over two million copies. The book included his experience with the 2016 election, such as the investigation of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, and the Russian interference with the election. His involvement with these two incidents was widely criticized; the latter being deemed as possible collusion with Trump’s presidential campaign.

Comey’s relationship with Trump was also explored in his book. The FBI director was ultimately fired by Trump in May 2017. The book’s title itself comes from what Comey says Trump demanded of him during the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Following his firing, Comey’s testimony to Congress drew major nationwide attention and he has since said Trump is a “liar” and “morally unfit to be president.” A registered Republican for most of his life, Comey has even urged Americans to vote for Democrats in 2020.

Comey was the seventh Director of the FBI. His past experiences included helping to change the Bush administration’s policies on torture and electronic surveillance.

Screenwriter and director Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, Captain Phillips) spent a year researching and adapting the book. He will also direct the currently untitled miniseries, which is scheduled to go into production in November. No premiere date has been set for the project, which may air on Showtime, CBS All Access or potentially both.

According to CBS studios, Ray wants the new miniseries to be “a fair, responsible and comprehensively documented account of real-life events.”

In a press release, the studio explained how 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.

Also starring in the new miniseries is Michael Kelly (“House of Cards”) as Andrew McCabe, acting director of the FBI after Comey was fired (and who was fired himself by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in March 2018 over authorizing the release of information about an investigation). Tony-award winning actress Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty) will portray Comey’s wife of 32 years and a foster care advocate, Patrice.

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