<\/p>\n
By Christian Toto
\nJust the News<\/p>\n
A Showtime miniseries based on former FBI Director James Comey\u2019s memoir has been rescheduled to debut before Election Day, after its creator made an emotional plea for a chance to sway presidential voters.<\/p>\n
Billy Ray, who wrote and directed \u201cThe Comey Rule,\u201d recoiled after learning Showtime originally planned to debut it in late November.<\/p>\n
Ray wrote an angry letter to his cast and crew about the post-election date\u00a0obtained by Deadline.com<\/a>. The note suggests a collective agenda behind the project:<\/p>\n I know what a disappointment this is to you. It is for me too \u2014 because while I\u2019ve made movies about my country before, this was the first time I ever made a movie for my country. We all were hoping to get this story in front of the American people months before the coming election. And that was a reasonable expectation considering that we\u2019d been given a mandate by the network to do whatever was necessary to deliver by May 15.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But at some point in March or April, that mandate changed. Word started drifting back to me that a decision about our airdate had been made at the very highest levels of Viacom: all talk of our airing before the election was suddenly a \u201cnon-starter.\u201d I and my fellow producers asked for a chance to plead our case on the matter, but we were told that even the discussion itself was a \u201cnon-starter.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Further down in the letter, Ray envisioned billboards screaming, \u201cComey Vs. Trump\u201d in the heat of the election battle.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Comey Rule\u201d is based on former FBI director James Comey\u2019s recent memoir, \u201cA Higher Loyalty\u201d and \u201cmore than a year of additional interviews with a number of key principals,\u201d according to Showtime PR.<\/p>\n The source material suggests the production will be highly critical of President Trump. Through his book and other public platforms, Comey has frequently reviled the president while justifying his own conduct throughout the FBI\u2019s Crossfire Hurricane investigation of now-debunked allegations of collusion between Russia and Trump\u2019s 2016 campaign.<\/p>\n On June 24, the day after Ray’s letter was published by Deadline, Showtime announced “The Comey Rule” would air on consecutive nights\u00a0Sept. 27-28.\u00a0Showtime gave no reason for the time shift, but the news came the same day as two breaking news items tied to Comey\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n A federal appeals court ordered charges against Michael Flynn, Trump\u2019s former National Security Adviser, to be dropped. Gen. Flynn had previously plead guilty to making false statements in connection with an offshoot of the FBI\u2019s Trump-Russia investigation.<\/p>\n In aother development, declassified notes taken by anti-Trump former FBI agent Peter Strzok appeared to reveal that Comey thought Flynn’s late-2016 phone calls to\u00a0then-Russian Ambassador Sergey\u00a0Kislyak were “legit\u201d long before federal agents quizzed Flynn on the matter.<\/p>\n The news further erodes Comey\u2019s narrative related to both Gen. Flynn and the Russian investigation. Last year\u2019s Mueller Report failed to tie Trump to impeachable acts. More recently, we learned\u00a0public officials who warned cable news viewers about Trump\u2019s alleged Russian ties confessed under oath they lacked evidence to back up their charges<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Comey Rule\u201d went into production before the American public learned of these revelations, so it\u2019s unlikely the new developments would be reflected in the two-part saga.<\/p>\n Ray brings an eclectic background to \u201cThe Comey Rule.\u201d He previously wrote \u201cCaptain Phillips\u201d and \u201cShattered Glass,\u201d the latter about disgraced New Republic journalist Stephen Glass. Ray most recently wrote \u201cRichard Jewell,\u201d the 2019 Clint Eastwood drama cheered by conservatives for its takedown of \u201cfake news\u201d reportage.<\/p>\n The two-part, four hour \u201cComey Rule,\u201d according to Showtime, will be \u201can immersive, behind-the-headlines account of the historically turbulent events surrounding the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath, which divided a nation.\u201d Jeff Daniels stars as Comey, while Brendan Gleeson portrays President Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Comey Rule\u201d will air Sept. 27 and 28 at 9 p.m. EST on Showtime.<\/p>\n