Trumpus transformatus! Brendan Gleeson – best known for playing Alastor ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody in the ‘Harry Potter’ films – looks just like Donald Trump in ‘The Comey Rule,’ it’s scary!
Forget Voldemort. Brendan Gleeson transforms into someone much scarier in The Comey Rule, the two-night, four-hour event taking place on Sept. 27 and 28 on Showtime. In the trailer for the limited series, released today (Aug. 24), viewers get a full look at Brendan, 65, as President Donald Trump, and it’s hard to tell the difference. The Harry Potter star has Trump’s mannerisms down — from the inappropriate hand-grabs, jutted chin, victim mentality, and seemingly mob-boss demand for “loyalty” from James Comey (portrayed here by Emmy award-winning actor and Trump critic Jeff Daniels.)
“Nobody gets treated as unfairly as I do. It’s disgraceful,” says Brendan as Trump, and it’s like Donald is actually saying the words. Supposedly, he actually did say those words. The Comey Rule is based on James Comey’s bestselling memoir, A Higher Loyalty. This “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,” reads the description, per TVLine. The cast also includes Holly Hunter as former attorney general Sally Yates, Michael Kelly of House of Cards as former FBI director Andrew McCabe, and Scoot McNairy as former deputy director attorney general Rod Rosenstein.
The Comey Rule was initially set for a late November premiere, but writer/director Billy Ray criticized Showtime for running this political-themed series after the 2020 election. “We all were hoping to get this story in front of the American people months before the coming election,” Ray wrote in an email to his cast, per TV Line. Ray noted that “word started drifting back to me that a decision about our airdate had been made at the very highest levels of Viacom: All talk of our airing before the election was suddenly a ‘non-starter.’” Viacom ultimately changed its mind, scheduling the two-night event two months before Americans go to the polls.
It doesn’t appear that someone will portray Melania Trump on The Comey Rule. There is no listing for her on its IMDB page (though Reno 911! ‘s Joe Lo Truglio will play Jeff Sessions, and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey’s William Sadler will portray Michael Flynn.) If there is an uncredited Melania cameo, then here’s hoping there’s a scene when she swipes her hand away from Donald’s. Recently, The Lincoln Project – the Republican group responsible for those viral videos attacking Donald’s tenure – released “Here’s the Melania and Donald Love Story,” which shows the many, many times that Melania has pulled her hand away from Donald’s.
The Comey Rule airs Sunday, Sept. 27 and Monday, Sept. 28 at 9/8c on Showtime