Brendan Gleeson to portray Donald Trump in mini-series about James Comey

Dublin-born actor Brendan Gleeson is going to take on the challenging task of playing the President of The United States, Donald Trump, in an upcoming mini-series. According to Deadline, the four-hour CBS show will be based on former FBI director James Comey's memoir A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership and will star Jeff Daniels as Comey.

As the first high-ranking official to publish a book about Trump, Comey depicts how the President demanded the unflagging personal loyalty of him over the Michael Flynn investigation and how he fired him from the top FBI post after not receiving that loyalty. The former FBI director was also in charge of the investigations into Hillary Clinton's email server during the lead-up to the 2016 election.

Billy Ray, who previously received an Oscar nod in the 'Best Adapted Screenplay' category for 2013's Captain Phillips, will both direct and adapt the screenplay. He is convinced that Gleeson is the right choice to play Trump but also recognises the difficulties that come with the role.

"It's hard to imagine a bigger acting challenge than playing Donald Trump", Ray told Deadline, "You have to have presence, and a singular kind of dynamism. 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."