IRISH ACTOR Brendan Gleeson has lifted the lid on the process that went into his portrayal of Donald Trump in the hit TV mini-series The Comey Rule.
The In Bruges actor starred as Trump alongside Jeff Daniels as James Comey in an adaptation of the former FBI Director’s tell-all book of the same name.
Despite a mixed critical reception, The Comey Rule proved a resounding hit for US network Showtime with Gleeson garnering positive reviews for his performance as Trump.
Speaking to Deadline, the Dublin-born actor revealed what went into his performance as the soon-to-be-former US President.
"When it came first, there were a number of different issues that were involved. I was unsure I was going to learn anything about him from what was there. Because it's really Comey's story; this isn't an exploration of Donald Trump,” Gleeson said.
"I knew this stuff about his public persona; I didn't really understand any more about his private motivations beyond the political or beyond whatever.”
“I asked a number of different people close to me and all that. One of my sons said, 'If you buy into the circus, it doesn't matter whether you do good or bad, whatever you play in the circus doesn't matter -- it's what feeds the circus.' No matter what you do, you're only adding (to it.)”
According to Gleeson one of the biggest challenges came with the physical transformation the role required.
In order to better resemble Trump, Gleeson’s hair underwent a major makeover while he was also required to wear a mould to better capture the President’s famous pearly white teeth.
"When I wanted to go at it, I had to go at it fairly. I'm quite similar in (hair) coloring to him. Myself and Orla Carroll who did the hair -- fair play to (director/screenwriter Billy Ray), he brought her over, and I was able to work with her in Ireland. We spent hours and hours and we got into a very good place with my own hair at one point, but it would've been almost impossible to reproduce every day,” Gleeson said.
“My poor little Irish teeth -- they just don't get that white! There was a bunch of people who really, really worked brilliantly with me. We put on these things (moulds) but only on one side. So all of that had a kind of an impact.
"It did make me feel like as if I had my suit of armour on to go out and that he travels with the show, the show travels with him. That's it.”
Though The Comey Rule director Billy Ray had feared Gleeson would face a backlash over his performance as the President, Trump has so far failed to comment on the Irishman’s appearance in the mini-series.
