Jeff Daniels, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
(laughs) Glad to be here.
Um, to say that I'm a big fan of yours is an understatement.
I, uh, have truly always admired
watching how you embody characters
in a range that I think few other human beings can.
And I mean, I feel like you've done it again.
This-this has almost widened the breadth of your range, you know.
You've gone from playing one of the biggest dimwits in history
in Dumb and Dumber
to one of the most complicated and serious human beings,
James Comey, former head of the FBI.
Before we get into the whys of Comey and how,
which one is harder for you to play as an actor?
Usually the guys who are smarter,
uh, have a lot more to say, so it's just a simple...
Like-like, Will McAvoy or-or Comey
-or Atticus Finch or Broadway-- they're all... -Mm-hmm.
It's lots and lots of lines, smart, you know,
so it takes longer to memorize, though.
Harry Dunne in Dumb and Dumber, you know,
didn't open his mouth nearly as much, and it was just,
someone that stupid is-is easier to learn somehow.
I don't know.
But it... that would be the main difference, yeah.
Well, I will tell you this.
Um, The Comey Rule, and playing James Comey
could not have come at a more, um, I think fitting moment
in American history because,
as we gear up for-for another election,
I think a lot of people remember back to 2016
and how one moment in time seems to have shifted
not just the election, but American history forever,
and that was when James Comey came out
and announced his investigation
into, um, then-candidate Hillary Clinton.
This show is interesting because it really presents us
with the dilemma from Comey's point of view.
When you were playing James Comey,
what were you trying to give us as the viewer
in terms of being for him or against him
in terms of what decisions he was making?
I remember back in October 2016, when it was announced
that they were going to reopen the investigation.
And I remember thinking something like,
"What is he thinking? What is he doing?"
I mean, we were two days away...
Um, Billy Bush's bus ride had been, like, the day before.
Right.
WikiLeaks was making noise about 33,000 e-mails
they were going to leak, which was what Comey had to deal with.
Does he get out in front of that?
'Cause Giuliani's gonna leak it, and or... you know, and...
So he, to protect the integrity of the FBI, he did that.
That's what you find out.
You find out that he was between a rock and a hard place,
and he couldn't punt.
He had to decide, and there was no easy decision.
And any time that-that a political opinion would come in,
whether through his team that he was...
that was trying to help make... help him make the decision...
-Mm-hmm. -...he had to swat it away,
because it had to stay an apolitical decision,
uh, which I-I... I was unaware of--
that he worked real hard to push back
against the right and also the left.
-Right, right. -He had to stay true to the rule of law,
to the institution of the Department of Justice,
the integrity of the FBI.
These are all things that are bigger than Jim Comey.
And he looks at them
like someone would look at their religion,
and-and that's what... that was his north star.
And he made his decisions based on those things.
And everyone else is thinking politically,
and that kind of jumped out at me.
One thing I've always enjoyed about, you know,
talking to an actor behind the scenes is-is learning
how they discover a part of a human being
that we didn't get to see in the public eye.
What were some of the things
that you discovered about the man
that we never got to see because we were looking at the agent?
Jim Comey was accused of being self-righteous and a Boy Scout,
and his right was bigger than your right and his...
you know, his morality was bigger than...
And-and I...
You know, certainly, if you disagreed with his decision
or you were looking at it politically,
I can see how you would go to that because he was going,
"No, I'm going to serve something bigger."
But the other thing that I learned about him,
and it's...
even more so in contrast to Trump,
is that Jim Comey, at the bottom, at the bottom,
is honest, decent, open,
will tell you the truth,
um... compassionate,
cares about other people,
um, is self-effacing,
is humble,
certainly ambitious, but...
but not to the point of trampling over people.
-Mm-hmm. -That's... When you can...
You look at that, and you look at Comey Rule,
and you see an example of that.
And it's not Boy Scout, it's not Pollyanna.
It's who the guy is.
It's what he believes.
And... it's shocking to see that,
because we've had four years of the opposite.
And you want to put something on the ballot?
Put decency on the ballot, put compassion on the ballot,
put caring about someone other than yourself on the ballot
or your political party.
I'd like to see that.
Jim Comey is a good example of that,
as a former Republican, by the way.
That's-that's... that's what he used to be.
I don't know what he is now.
Well, I'll tell you this.
Um, you've done it before.
I genuinely believe that you've done it again.
It is a stellar performance that brings to life
someone, uh, that everyone thought they knew,
and maybe will get to know a little bit better.
And it tells a story that I think
every American should be talking about,
especially before going into another election.
So, um, Jeff Daniels,
thank you so much for joining me on the show.
Thank you, Trevor, pleasure.