‘Hillbilly Elegy’ director Ron Howard says he’s ‘surprised and disappointed’ by J.D. Vance’s campaign rhetoric
Ron Howard won’t be voting for J.D. Vance in the upcoming election.
The famous filmmaker, 70, has a history with Vance, 40, who wrote the memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” that was adapted into a 2020 Netflix film directed by Howard.
But now that Vance is Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee for the November election, Howard has new opinions about the Ohio senator.
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Ron Howard at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 7. AP
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J.D. Vance at a rally in Pennsylvania on Aug. 28, 2024. Getty Images
“Well, we didn’t talk a lot of politics when we were making the movie because I was interested in his upbringing and that survival tale. That’s what we mostly focused on,” Howard said in an interview with Deadline at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday.
“However,” Howard continued, “based on the conversations that we had during that time, I just have to say I’m very surprised and disappointed by much of the rhetoric that I’m reading and hearing. People do change, and I assume that’s the case. Well, it’s on record.”
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J.D. Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy” was published in 2016. AP
“When we spoke around the time that I knew him, he was not involved in politics or claimed to be particularly interested. So that was then. I think the important thing is to recognize what’s going on today and to vote.”
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“Hillbilly Elegy” was released on Netflix in 2020. Netflix
Howard added, “It’s not really about a movie made five or six years ago. It is, but we need to respond to what we’re seeing, hearing, feeling now, and vote responsibly, whatever that is. We must participate. That’s my answer.”
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Ron Howard directing “Hillbilly Elegy.” Lacey Terrell//NETFLIX
In an interview with Variety at TIFF, Howard said he’s “been surprised and concerned by a lot of the rhetoric” that’s come from the Trump-Vance campaign.
The Oscar winner also declared, “There’s no version of me voting for Donald Trump to be president again, whoever the vice president was.”
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Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in North Carolina on Aug. 21, 2024. Getty Images
Vance wrote about his about his life growing up in a working class Appalachian family to how he graduated from Yale Law School in his 2016 popular book.
Howard’s movie starred Glenn Close as Vance’s grandmother, Amy Adams as Vance’s mother and Gabriel Basso as Vance himself. Owen Asztalos played a young Vance.
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Glenn Close, Owen Asztalos in “Hillbilly Elegy.” Lacey Terrell/NETFLIX
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Ron Howard on the set of “Hillbilly Elegy.” Lacey Terrell//NETFLIX
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Haley Bennett, Gabriel Basso and Amy Adams in “Hillbilly Elegy.” Lacey Terrell/NETFLIX
At the time that “Hillbilly Elegy” came out, it didn’t get a glowing reception. The Atlantic deemed it “one of the worst movies of the year” while the A.V. Club called it “bootstrapping poverty porn” that “reinforces the stereotypes it insists it’s illuminating.” The Post film critic Johnny Oleksinski called it “exploitative” and “just a vehicle for awards-hungry actors to showboat.”
Still, it earned Oscar nominations — Best Supporting Actress for Close, 77, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
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Glenn Close, Amy Adams in “Hillbilly Elegy.” Lacey Terrell/NETFLIX
At the premiere of her movie “The Deliverance” last month, Close spoke to Variety and was nostalgic about Vance visiting the “Hillbilly Elegy” set, but then she went after the senator for flip-flopping his stance on Trump, 78.
“You only hope that people in our government have a moral backbone and that they don’t say one thing and then say something that’s 150 degrees different,” she said.
The actress also made a subtle dig on social media at Vance for his “childless cat ladies” remarks.
