Jeff Daniels on Why He Didn’t Use Trump to Inspire His ‘A Man in Full’ Character (Exclusive)

On Wednesday night, Jeff Daniels stepped out for the L.A. premiere of Netflix’s “A Man in Full,” a new series from David E. Kelley.

“Extra’s” Melvin Robert spoke with Jeff, who plays an Atlanta real estate mogul facing bankruptcy and has to battle his business and political enemies to try to hang on to his empire.

Daniels had a blast taking on his “larger-than-life” character Charlie Croker. He said, “You just got to go in there with the largest Southern accent you can come up with. It was fun.”

While some have drawn parallels to Donald Trump, the former president didn’t come to Jeff’s mind when he was prepping for the role.

He quipped, “I didn’t think about Trump — the less I think about Trump, the happier I am.”

In all seriousness, Daniels pointed out, “Tom Wolfe wrote the book in the ‘90s and it was based on two or three guys in Atlanta who were real estate guys, and that’s who it was based on.”

The series gave Jeff the opportunity to work with Shania Twain, who even sings to his character. He shared, “That was the moment I emailed David E. Kelley. I said, ‘When I got to stand there as Charlie Croker, like this, with Shania Twain singing to me,’ I emailed him, I said, ‘I have found Charlie Croker.’ Only Charlie Crocker would stand there and let Shania Twain sing to him at his 60th birthday.”

Daniels praised Twain, calling her a “pro.” He gushed, “Backstage, [she] couldn’t have been nicer. It was great. I’m glad she did it.”

As for working with Regina King, who directed the pilot, Jeff said, “She’s got an Oscar sitting next to her… That helps a lot because as an actor, you know that she’s inside my head, she knows what I’m doing and what I’m trying to do and all that stuff… She had my back.”