Ron Howard made JD Vance’s bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy into a major Hollywood movie four years ago. Now the filmmaker has publicly turned on the GOP vice presidential candidate, saying he is “surprised and disappointed” by the “rhetoric that I’m reading and hearing.”
At the Toronto Film Festival to promote his latest movie Eden, Ron Howard faced questions about JD Vance from multiple news outlets, some of which clearly had an ax to grind against Vance.
“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 replied to Deadline, which in its question to Howard described Vance as “polarizing” and “volatile.”
“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.”
Howard offered a similar response to Variety when asked about Vance.
“I have been surprised and concerned by a lot of the rhetoric coming out of that campaign,” the filmmaker said. “There’s no version of me voting for Donald Trump to be President again, whoever the Vice President was. But given the experience that I had then 5, 6 years ago. Yeah, I’d say that I’ve been surprised.”
Howard urged Americans to “get out and vote, for whomever. But be thoughtful. Listen to what the candidates are saying today, that’s what’s really relevant it’s who they are today. And make a decision, an informed one.”
Hillbilly Elegy star Glenn Close has also turned on JD Vance, after she earned an Oscar nomination for playing his mamaw.
As Breitbart News reported, the actress trashed Vance on Instagram over a cat comment he made years ago. In two recent Instagram posts, she defended women who own feline companions. “Eve would have left a bleeding mouse head in the bed of anyone who criticized any kind of lady with a CAT!” Close wrote.
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