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Hillbilly Elegy director Ron Howard has taken a swipe at JD Vance, suggesting that Donald Trump’s Republican running mate has “changed” since he first met him.
Earlier this year, Vance was selected to be Trump’s possible vice president in the 2024 US presidential election race – but before his political career, he was known for being the author of memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which was later adapted into a Netflix film of the same name.
Since being announced as Trump’s running mate, Vance has been criticised for comments that saw him refer to women, such as Trump’s presidential rival Kamala Harris, as “childless cat ladies”. This prompted swift backlash and accusations of sexism, with Vance claiming the remarks were made in “sarcasm”.
While Hillbilly Elegy star Glenn Close, who played grandmother Mawmaw in the movie, made her own subtle dig at Vance, Howard has now shared his view on the controversial figure after being questioned about him during an appearance at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
When asked to comment on “unleashing” the “polarising, volatile conservative”, the filmmaker told Deadline: “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.
“However, 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.”
Howard continued: “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.”
He said that he thinks “the important thing is to recognise what’s going on today and to vote”, telling the outlet: “And so that’s my answer. 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.”
In the film, Amy Adams plays Vance’s mother, Bev, with Vance himself being portrayed by The Night Agent actor Gabriel Basso.
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Before Vance was a couple of steps away from the most powerful position in the world, he was just a self-proclaimed “hillbilly” raised in the Appalachian mountains, living in poverty, despair and dysfunction. His journey to Yale Law School was documented in the memoir, which was published in 2017.
JD Vance is Donald Trump’s Republican running mate ( Getty Images )
In the introduction to the book, he said: “I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve accomplished nothing great in my life, certainly nothing that could justify a complete stranger spending money to read about. I am not a senator, a governor, or a cabinet secretary.”
The film was described by The Independent’s critic Clarisse Loughrey as “a sickeningly irresponsible parade of death and despair”.
GrantSRobertson on September 8th, 2024 at 14:22 UTC »
After Trump got elected in 2016, the book group at my Unitarian Church decided to read Hillbilly Elegy, so they could "understand why so many people would vote for Trump." In all the discussions, they would constantly talk about, "Oh those poor people they were so uneducated. And they didn't know what they were doing."
But, having had cousins who were Southeast Missouri hillbillies, I could tell that Vance was just fucking dissing on his cousins. He wrote a book to make his cousins look as stupid as possible, so that he could feel like he was better than them. And I kept trying to tell people this. I kept saying that those people had every opportunity to not be stupid. They probably weren't even as stupid as they are portrayed in the book. This guy just hates his cousins and figured out a way to make money out of how badly he hates his cousins.
But they just weren't having it. They were convinced that JD Vance was revealing some fundamental truth about the human condition. And now we know that JD Vance doesn't even fucking know how to buy donuts.
TheParadoxigm on September 8th, 2024 at 12:25 UTC »
Why did he get a movie in the first place?
ShrimpieAC on September 8th, 2024 at 12:12 UTC »
I’m so tired of hearing about this book. My uncle talked to me about it like it’s a sequel to the Bible. Like the mere publication of it shook the heavens and Earth. He has never read it nor does he own a copy. I’m so tired of Republican brainwashing.