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Movies & TV

22nd Feb 2020

Brendan Gleeson’s upcoming performance as Donald Trump is ‘scary’ and ‘too close for comfort’

Paul Moore

Brendan Gleeson

The brilliant actor seems like the perfect fit to play Trump, his co-star agrees…

Here’s a question, can you picture the actor that starred in the Oscar-winning films Argo, 12 Years A Slave, and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood?

Aside from this, the same actor starred in the most recent season of True Detective, the incredibly-underappreciated Halt and Catch Fire, and the most recent season of Fargo.

Ok, we’ll make it easy, he’s also the lead DEA Agent in the critically-acclaimed second season of Narcos: Mexico. Truth be told, after JOE had the chance to chat with Scoot McNairy, we’re certain that the versatile actor wouldn’t have it any other way because he just lets his work speak for itself.

In previous interviews, McNairy has openly talked about his early days as an actor where he lived out of his car and struggled to get work, the star of Narcos: Mexico is one of the most famous faces – and voices (he also narrates the show) in the world today.

Doubt that statement? Well, think about how many millions of people around the world are currently tuned into the Netflix drama?

However, after establishing himself in the indie circuit with impressive turns in the brilliant In Search of a Midnight Kiss and Art School Confidential, the Texan has since built up a wonderful CV. Aside from the aforementioned films and TV shows, McNairy has also starred in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gone Girl, Killing Them Softly, Monsters, Godless, and more.

During his interview with JOE, the actor said that he’d love to return for another season of Narcos but in terms of his immediate future, McNairy has just finished working alongside Brendan Gleeson in A Higher Loyalty, a mini-series that’s adapted from James Comey’s book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership.

As you may know, Comey was the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the books discusses ethics and the leadership that Comey encountered throughout his life, his career in public office, and his relationship with President Donald Trump, who fired him in May 2017.

Gleeson is set to play Trump but this won’t be the first time that McNairy will star alongside a member of the Gleeson family because in 2014, he spent some time in Wicklow working alongside Domhnall Gleeson in Frank.

Granted, Brendan Gleeson has played famous real life figures before – his performances as Martin Cahill in The General and Winston Churchill in Into The Storm spring to mind – but McNairy was impressed by just how good the Irish actor is in the roll.

“Yeah, yeah. We just finished that about a week ago with Billy Ray (screenwriter of Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games) – he’s just incredible and so much fun to work with, with such great material and a great script. Yeah, I worked with Brendan. Man, he’s just so nice in person but it was scary to see how much like Trump he was. Everybody on set had an out of body experience when he did his first rehearsal, we we’re like ‘Wow, this is too close for comfort.’ For me, looking him in the eye during filming, he blew it out of the park. It was incredible. I mean, that whole family is just a work of talent,” said McNairy.

While no premiere date for A Higher Loyalty has been announced yet, fans of McNairy can see him in Season 2 of Narcos: Mexico which is now streaming on Netflix.

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