Brendan Gleeson is taking on the role of President Donald Trump.
The Emmy-Award winner will play the polarizing POTUS in a new four-hour miniseries at CBS.
The series is based on former FBI Director James Comey’s New York Times #1 bestselling book, A Higher Loyalty.
Gleeson is probably most well-known for his role as Alastor Moody in the Harry Potter movies. He has also appeared in big-screen hits such as Braveheart, Michael Collins, Gangs of New York, Cold Mountain, and In Bruges.
He also won an Emmy Award in 2009 for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in “Into The Storm.”
More recently, Gleeson has starred as Bill Hodges on the Mr. Mercedes TV series. That series is currently airing its third season.
Gleeson has researched this limited series for over a year to make sure the drama is a fair, responsible, and comprehensively documented account of real-life events.
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He met with Comey, his family, and many other people associated with Comey.
As for who is playing Comey, Jeff Daniels has landed the coveted role.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray (Captain Phillips, Shattered Glass, and the upcoming Richard Jewell, directed by Clint Eastwood) adapted the book and will be directing the miniseries, which is executive produced by Alex Kurtzman, Shane Salerno, and Heather Kadin.
The drama is slated to begin production in November with an airdate to be announced at a later date.
According to Ray, “It’s hard to imagine a bigger acting challenge than playing Donald Trump. You have to have presence, and a singular kind of dynamism.”
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“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.”
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.