Truth, Lies and Trump: ‘The Comey Rule’ Revisits the 2016 Election

With the specter of Russian interference again looming over the upcoming presidential election, the Showtime limited series “The Comey Rule” couldn’t be more timely. Based on former FBI Director James Comey’s autobiography, “A Higher Loyalty,” it recounts the events leading up to the 2016 race for the White House and Donald Trump’s determination to win by any means. Comey’s refusal to play along ultimately led to his dismissal. Starring Emmy winners Jeff Daniels (“The Newsroom”) as Comey, Brendan Gleeson (“Mr. Mercedes”) as Trump, the two-part drama was written and directed by Billy Ray (“The Last Tycoon,” “The Hunger Games,” “Captain Phillips”). 

“I’ve wanted to write something about the Trump administration and its effect on my country and I was looking for the right way in,” Ray said during a Zoom press conference. “It became very clear that you could take this story and create a love story between a man and an institution, and I was very, very eager to do that. Everybody believed they knew what had happened in 2016. We had an opportunity to take them inside the rooms where these decisions were getting made. We had an opportunity to let them be Jim Comey for five minutes and see what they would have done given the pressures and constraints facing him. And that, to me, is the power of the story that we told. I don’t think any writer/director has been given the opportunity that I have right now to tell a story as it’s unfolding, to be a part of a national conversation right before a national election. That brings with it an enormous responsibility and enormous obligation, but as long as we are being truthful in our storytelling, I feel that we are the match for that,” he said.

To prepare, Ray started with Comey’s book, then conducted interviews and research of his own. “I met with people from the other side of the aisle and got their perspective, too,” he said. “By the time I sat down to write the script, I had input from lots of voices that were not Jim Comey and were critical of Jim Comey, and I think the film reflects that.” 

However, Ray added that Comey was an accommodating resource. “He was very, very helpful and offered a lot of insights that just got baked into the script and made the story better. [Viewers] are going to see that it’s actually a very fair and critical look at a lot of people and the decisions they made in 2016 and how it affected our democracy.”

A pivotal scene in part two of “The Comey Rule” is “the loyalty dinner,” a one-on-one meeting in which Trump, like a Mafia boss, makes the consequences of crossing him abundantly clear to Comey. Multiple scenes in the 51-day shoot were typically shot per day, but a whole day was devoted to this scene’s 8 1/2 pages of dialogue. “It was Jeff and Brendan’s first day working together, and it was the only day that Jim Comey was on set,” Ray recalled. “No rehearsal. We didn’t have time. “We met in the makeup trailer when we are both putting on our hair and went in, and the first time we did it was when they rolled camera,” Daniels said. Trump isn’t likely to let this all-but-the-horns-and-pitchfork depiction go without comment.

“I gave up predicting how Donald Trump would react to things about five years ago. I have no idea how he will react,” Ray said. “I imagine it will be on his radar, and I think it’s likely that the IRS will start auditing my taxes, but that’s just a guess. I think, at the very least, I’m in for a mean nickname on Twitter.” He predicts Gleeson also will be the target of presidential wrath. “I’m very glad he’s in Ireland right now, away from all of this craziness,” Ray said. “I wouldn’t want to expose any actor to the flack that I imagine Brendan is about to get. Ireland may not be far enough away.”

“I gave up predicting how Donald Trump would react to things about five years ago. I have no idea how he will react. I imagine it will be on his radar, and I think it’s likely that the IRS will start auditing my taxes, but that’s just a guess. I think, at the very least, I’m in for a mean nickname on Twitter.” — Billy Ray

Ray, a Jewish Democrat who grew up in Encino, insisted that he “didn’t make this series to change people’s votes. The reason that I did this was because I felt that the Russians had had a profound and unhappy effect on our political process in 2016, and I wanted the American public to know about that before they went to the polls in 2020.”

While Comey is clearly the hero of the story, he’s not a white knight, Ray emphasized. “This is a human being. He’s not unflawed. He’s not without his own perspective on things. He’s got strengths and weaknesses. I believe in his integrity. And I know him well enough to know who he is. But I’m not trying to marbleize him. It’s not my goal to wind up with people erecting statues of Jim Comey or tearing them down. I just want to tell the story of how heartbreaking it can be to be a public servant in the current landscape of America.”

Ray anticipates significant viewer interest. “I have not seen any signs in the last four years that the American public has lost its appetite for information about Donald Trump or our democracy, more broadly. I think this country is 100% engaged and 100% curious, and I think that although they may all have a point of view about Jim Comey and a point of view about Donald Trump, I don’t see a way for them not to watch this because the actors are too good and the buzz is too strong.” 

“The Comey Rule” premieres at 9 p.m. Sept. 27 on Showtime.