This new Amazon show almost used Donald Trump's face as the mask of a killer

Donald Trump was nearly the face of the killer on Amazon's upcoming original series "Mad Dogs."

Amazon's drama is based on the British series, in which the villain wore a mask of former British prime minister Tony Blair. As with the UK show, the producers of Amazon's show looked at politicians, including Bill Clinton. But ultimately, they found public figures were tough to clear with the legal department.

"We thought about who it could be and we went through the various machinations and came up with a few ideas," show creator and executive producer Cris Cole said during Monday's Television Critics Association press tour. "It was actually going to be Michael Jackson to begin with, but that was off the table immediately."

"I had been racking my brain," executive producer Shawn Ryan added. "Before Trump mania, we discussed Donald Trump."

The mask would have to be just right. The killer who wears it represents the major turning point in what was supposed to be a fun, exotic vacation for five longtime friends in Belize, played by Steve Zahn, Michael Imperioli, Billy Zane, Romany Malco, and Ben Chaplin.

So how did the show end up deciding on a cat for the mask? Cole, who also created the British version, said he found it in a Los Angeles Halloween store.

"I was drawn to it," Cole said. "There was something about it that was quite fantastic. It was so grotesque and sort of cute and horrible at the same time."

And Ryan liked that "it allowed us to diverge even more from the British series."

Read more live coverage from the Television Critics Association press tour.

"Mad Dogs" premieres Friday, January 22, on Amazon Prime Video.

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