Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Brendan Gleeson takes on ‘acting challenge’ – playing Donald Trump

Brendan Gleeson is to portray US President Donald Trump (PA)
Brendan Gleeson is to portray US President Donald Trump (PA)

Brendan Gleeson will play Donald Trump in a TV miniseries.

The Irish actor, 64, known for his role as Alastor Moody in the Harry Potter films, will star in an adaptation of ex-FBI director James Comey’s bestselling book.

US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

US star Jeff Daniels, also 64, will play Comey in the miniseries, based on the “tell-all” book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies And Leadership.

The US president abruptly fired FBI director Comey in May 2017, saying it was necessary to restore “public trust and confidence” in the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

Comey has been a fierce and public critic of Trump.

Jeff Daniels
Jeff Daniels (Ian West/PA)

He also faced the US Senate Judiciary Committee over his handling of the investigations into Hillary Clinton’s email server and potential Russian collusion with Trump’s election campaign.

Billy Ray, who adapted the book and is directing the miniseries, said in a statement to US website Deadline: “It’s hard to imagine a bigger acting challenge than playing Donald Trump.

Former FBI director James Comey
Former FBI director James Comey (Brian Lawless/PA)

“You have to have presence, and a singular kind of dynamism. You also have to have the courage and the will to play Trump’s psychology from the inside out.

“Oh, and you have to be spectacularly talented and watchable. Not many actors check all those boxes. Brendan does. I’m ecstatic about this,” he said of casting the Braveheart star.