Oscar winner Holly Hunter (The Piano), currently killing it in a guest-starring role in HBO’s Succession, has joined CBS Studios’ untitled event miniseries based on the bestselling memoir by James Comey, A Higher Loyalty. Hunter has signed on to play Acting Attorney General Sally Yates in the political drama, which will begin shooting this November.
The four-hour miniseries is set to star Emmy Award winner Jeff Daniels as James Comey and Emmy winner Brendan Gleeson as Donald Trump. Jennifer Ehle will play James Comey’s wife, Patrice, and Michael Kelly will star as Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
Oscar nominee Billy Ray is adapting Comey’s book and will direct. Alex Kurtzman, Shane Salerno, and Heather Kadin are involved as executive producers. The CBS Television Studios project is produced by Secret Hideout, The Story Factory, and Home Run Productions.
CBS hasn’t set a premiere date for the much-anticipated event miniseries.
Commenting on the casting of Holly Hunter, writer/director Billy Ray said, “Though I’d never met Holly before, this part was written for her. There was no one else who could play it. In my first phone call with her, I spent 10 minutes just telling her how much I loved her in Broadcast News. She’s the kind of actor who makes a movie better instantly. Plus, now that I know Elasti-Girl, my kids think I’m cooler than I actually am.”
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.”
