It’s rare for a film to have such a love-hate relationship with its subject.
The makers of a new series about Donald Trump’s clashes with FBI director James Comey have repeatedly emphasized that they are explaining rather than excusing the controversial law enforcement figure’s actions during the 2016 election. The Comey Rule writer-director Billy Ray even released an unusual promo, featuring singer Jonathan Mann crooning his plaintive folk song “Fuck You, James Comey.”
Now, even Comey himself has made an appearance, endorsing the two-part series that confronts the consequences of his decision to publicly reveal the FBI probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails—while remaining mum about a parallel investigation into Trump and his inner circle’s compromising relationship with Russia.
“It’s useful in a time of tremendous polarization and so much bogus information for people to get an accurate, truthful portrayal of difficult decisions at a difficult time,” Comey says in a new behind-the-scenes feature for the film, which stars Jeff Daniels as him and Brendan Gleeson as Trump.
The Comey Rule is based on Comey’s memoir, and the show certainly tells the story from his perspective. But it also highlights the intense criticism and lingering contempt that the public (and, in the series, his own family) feels about the choices he made. “We delve pretty deeply into what he was thinking, but significantly we delve deeply into what all the people around him were thinking as well,” Ray told Vanity Fair. “There were a lot of people who disagreed with Comey, and they get to have their point of view articulated in the series.”
Ultimately, Comey was among the first to taste the consequences of his actions. He was one of many career public servants fired by Trump amid the president’s continued anger over investigations into his actions, those of his family, and others within his administration.