When last we reported on The Comey Rule, the upcoming Showtime miniseries based on former FBI Director James Comey‘s best-selling book, there was controversy about its release date. Writer/director Billy Ray sent an impassioned email to his cast members insisting that the show must air before Election Day 2020. Now, it looks as though he’s gotten his wish, as The Comey Rule now has an official pre-Election Day release date, and a first trailer.
Jeff Daniels stars as Comey, who seems to be an ever-increasingly worried man of integrity. Brendan Gleeson stars as President Donald Trump, and while the trailer only gives us glimpses and catches of Gleeson’s work, his voice and physical presence feel accurately overbearing. The rest of the star-studded cast includes folks like Holly Hunter, Scoot McNairy, Jonathan Banks, Amy Seimetz, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Brian d’Arcy James, T.R. Knight, Joe Lo Truglio, and many more.
Image via Showtime
From a purely artistic standpoint, I’m not entirely sure we get the best pieces of political filmmaking when they’re produced so closely to the thing that’s actually happening (see: Oliver Stone‘s W.). In this case, Trump hasn’t even finished his first term, and we’re already fictionalizing his first term. How can we know what it means in a broader context so we know what to say about it? Then again, Trump’s presidency knows no precedents, and Ray’s purpose of urgent activistic filmmaking is both palpable and contagious. The trailer gives me shades of popcorn-political thrillers of the ’90s, and of the maestro of “important people saying mean things quickly” Aaron Sorkin. Plus, All the President’s Men was only released two years after President Nixon’s resignation. I’ll be watching this thing — and I imagine Ray hopes many potential voters will be, too.
Check out the first trailer and official synopsis for The Comey Rule below. The miniseries airs September 27 and 28 on Showtime. For more on Gleeson, here’s the exciting news of his recent Macbeth adaptation.
Based on Comey’s No. 1 New York Times bestselling book A Higher Loyalty and more than a year of additional interviews with a number of key principals, THE COMEY RULE is an immersive, behind-the-headlines account of the historically turbulent events surrounding the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath, which divided a nation. THE COMEY RULE is not a biopic of one man, but is instead the story of two powerful figures, Comey and Trump, whose strikingly different personalities, ethics and loyalties put them on a collision course.