Acclaimed director Ron Howard has recently broken his silence regarding his role in catapulting JD Vance, Donald Trump's current running mate, into the limelight.
This followed his adaptation of Vance's memoir into the 2020 film "Hillbilly Elegy," featuring Amy Adams and Glenn Close.
As reported by The Daily Beast, Howard, while promoting his latest film "Eden" at the Toronto International Film Festival, expressed his surprise and disappointment at Vance's political rhetoric since his rise to prominence. Howard revealed that during the making of "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance, an Ohio-born lawyer, showed little interest in politics. "We didn't talk a lot of politics when we were making the movie," Howard said, "I was interested in his upbringing and that survival tale. That's what we mostly focused on."
However, Howard noted that things have changed significantly since then. "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," he stated, suggesting that Vance's political transformation was unexpected.
Following the release of "Hillbilly Elegy" in 2020, which earned two Academy Award nominations and a Razzie nomination for Howard as Worst Director, Vance entered the political arena. With Trump's endorsement, he secured a senate seat in Ohio in 2022. Over the subsequent years, he became a regular on cable news, staunchly defending Trump's statements, despite previously referring to Trump as "America's Hitler" in a private conversation leaked from 2016.
Vance's controversial remarks, including his "childless cat ladies" comment, have drawn criticism. Glenn Close, one of the stars of "Hillbilly Elegy," indirectly responded to this comment on Instagram, stating that her cat "would have left a bleeding mouse head in the bed of anyone who criticized any kind of lady with a CAT!" She later told Variety that she "wouldn't sit down with [Vance]" if given the opportunity, questioning the potential benefits of such a meeting.
Howard, despite being inspired by Vance's life story to create "Hillbilly Elegy," has made it clear that he does not support the Republican ticket. "There's no version of me voting for Donald Trump to be President again, whoever the Vice President was," he declared to Variety.
Reflecting on his past interactions with Vance, Howard admitted that he was taken aback by Vance's political evolution. However, he emphasized that the focus should not be on a movie made half a decade ago, but rather on the current political climate. "It is, but we need to respond to what we're seeing, hearing, feeling now, and vote responsibly, whatever that is," Howard concluded.
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