“Hillbilly Elegy” director Ron Howard said he was “very surprised and disappointed” by Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s political comments, even though he was unaware of his political beliefs.
Howard, a two-time Academy Award winner, recalled that he and Vance didn’t discuss politics while making the film.
“Well, we didn’t really talk about politics while making the film because we were interested in his upbringing and his story of survival,” Howard told Deadline at the Toronto International Film Festival.
He continued, “That’s what we’ve been focusing on the most.”
“But I have to say, based on the conversations I’ve had during that time, I’ve been very surprised and disappointed by a lot of the rhetoric that I’ve read and heard,” he added. “People change, and I think that’s a fact. Well, that’s on the record.”
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Hillbilly Elegy was released on Netflix in November 2020.
The film is based on Vance’s 2016 New York Times bestselling book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis,” about a boy who grows up in a poor town in the Appalachian Mountains and goes on to Yale Law School as a rebellious teenager.
The film starred Amy Adams, Glenn Close and Gabriel Basso.
Vance is a venture capitalist, author, and politician who defeated Democratic challenger Tim Ryan for the Ohio State Senate seat in the 2022 midterm elections.
Howard, the “Happy Days” star, stressed that Vance never mentioned his political views, adding that “that’s a long time ago,” but the former Ohio senator and vice presidential nominee for former President Donald Trump appears to have clearly changed.
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“When I spoke to him when I first got to know him, he wasn’t involved in politics, nor did he claim to be particularly interested in it,” Howard said.
Since announcing his intention to run for president in 2024, Vance has come under fire for saying in 2021 that “this country is essentially run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs and childfree catwomen.”
But the senators argue that the remarks were taken out of context.
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Vance has continued to defend himself, but Democrats have criticized his comments since he was selected as Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called it “repulsive,” and Oprah Winfrey highlighted it in her speech at the Democratic National Convention.