“The Comey Rule” gives an unflinching yet empathetic look at former FBI director James Comey’s role in national politics before and after the 2016 election. The two-part series airs on Showtime on Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28. However, for a while this summer, it looked like the project would not air until after the presidential election.
Director Billy Ray was told to finish “The Comey Rule” so it would be ready to air before the election. Then, he claims, someone at the highest levels of ViacomCBS pushed the series until after Nov. 3.
Ray wrote an apologetic letter explaining the change to his cast and crew and that letter somehow leaked. A reporter from the New York Times called to verify its contents, and Ray says he was shocked when the reporter asked him how he knew that Donald Trump personally had asked ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone to push the date — his original letter had no such assertion.
Ray talks about how he cleared the air regarding the letter, how ViacomCBS moved the air date back to September, and why he decided that Brendan Gleeson’s portrayal of Trump would be “un-cartoonish.”