CBS Studios just announced they’ve snagged Jeff Daniels and Brendan Gleeson to star in a special four-hour miniseries. Daniels is on board to play former FBI Director James Comey, and Brendan Gleeson will portray Donald Trump.
CBS also revealed two additional key cast members. Jennifer Ehle will play James Comey’s wife, Patrice, and Michael Kelly is set to play Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
The miniseries is based on Comedy’s New York Times bestselling memoir, A Higher Loyalty. Oscar nominee Billy Ray (Captain Phillips, Shattered Glass) adapted the book and is confirmed as director. Alex Kurtzman, Shane Salerno, and Heather Kadin are executive producing.
Filming is expected to begin this November. CBS has not yet set an airdate for the Secret Hideout, The Story Factory and Home Run Productions project.
Commenting on the casting, writer/director Billy Ray said, “Jeff is so perfect for this part. 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,” said Billy Ray. “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.”
Ray also spoke about bringing in Michael Kelley and Jennifer Ehle. “When I first met Jeff Daniels on this movie, I told him, ‘I’m going to surround you with racehorses who are also workhorses. That’s Michael and Jennifer. So talented, so good at their craft – they fill their characters, yet it feels effortless – so their performances are always layered and unfussy, exactly the right kind of rhythm for this story,” explained Ray.
More on Billy Ray and A Higher Loyalty, Courtesy of CBS:
“Ray researched the project for over a year in order to make the drama a fair, responsible and comprehensively documented account of real-life events. He 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.
A Higher Loyalty debuted on top of the New York Times bestseller list and has already sold over two million copies across all platforms. It was recently released in paperback and again vaulted to #1 around the world.
The story is the reminiscence of Director Comey, who served as the seventh director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017. From helping change the Bush administration’s policies on torture and electronic surveillance to overseeing the Hillary Clinton email investigation, as well as possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Comey has been involved in some of the most consequential cases and policies of recent history.”
