No stranger to political works, writer/director Billy Ray was behind the recent Showtime series “The Comey Rule,” focusing on former FBI director James Comey and President Trump’s attempt to coax the FBI to drop an investigation into his campaign’s and his own personal dealings with Russia. Now, in an announcement that isn’t all that surprising given their outspoken politics on the matter, filmmaker Adam McKay (“Vice,” “Don’t Look Up“) and Ray are looking to unite to focus on the Trump administration by moving forward with a feature film focusing on the U.S. Capitol insurrection attack on January 6, 2021.
Now titled “J6,” Deadline reports that the project’s script will be shopped around to streaming services and studios as Showtime has seemingly backed out. McKay will stay on as producer as they seek new studio partners and financing.
After a post-election Trump rally in Washington D.C, multiple speakers including the former president ginned up the crowd by pushing The Big Lie. That fabricated propaganda was that Trump’s election loss was really a coordinated attempt to steal the election win from him, something that consistently has been proven to be demonstrably false. Of course, sham hasn’t stopped gaining traction as the Republican Party continues to rake-in campaign donations by echoing The Big Lie alongside earning Trump’s loyalty by pretending his alternative reality isn’t all in his head.
The project’s script penned by Ray was crafted with help from multiple interviews that writer/director conducted with Capitol police officers Michael Fanone and Harry Dunn, along with members of Congress who were trapped inside the Capitol during the violent siege. It should be extremely compelling given those perspectives.
At one time, the project was being developed as a limited series at Showtime but will pivot to a feature film instead. The outlet doesn’t mention why Showtime passed on the series incarnation, but we could theorize that it might have been too hot for the cable network after recently airing “The Comey Rule.”