Ron Howard revealed he texted Vice President JD Vance after the “Hillbilly Elegy” author was elected to office alongside President Donald Trump last year.
In 2020, Howard released his Amy Adams and Glenn Close-led adaptation of “Hillbilly Elegy,” which brought to life onscreen Vance’s memoir about witnessing his family’s substance abuse struggles firsthand. Howard’s film received negative reviews upon its release, and its legacy has only become more complicated in the years since due to Vance’s political ascension.
While promoting his latest film “Eden,” Howard told Vulture that he has only had one interaction with the VP since the time they spent making and promoting “Hillbilly Elegy” together. “I did one text, after the election, which was just sort of, ‘Godspeed. Try to serve us well,’” he said.
The Oscar-winning director admitted that he does not actively think about the legacy of his “Hillbilly Elegy” adaptation. “I know it’s a mixed bag and probably quite culturally divided,” Howard shared. “I also know that reviews were bad and the audience-reaction rating was pretty good.”
When he was asked whether he has been able to reconcile the version of Vance that he came to know with the politician he is today, Howard responded, “Well, it’s happened, so I know what I’ve observed.”
“It remains a bit of a surprise to me,” the filmmaker added. “I would not have seen it coming, and I wouldn’t have expected his rhetoric to be as divisive as it sometimes is. By the way, I’m not following him or listening to every word.”
Howard also divulged that he did get the sense, as many have speculated, that Vance took the negative reception to the director’s “Hillbilly Elegy” adaptation personally.
“He was frustrated by that,” Howard acknowledged. “He loved Glenn Close’s performance and Amy Adams’s performance and liked the film. And he felt that, just as reviews had kind of turned on the book, his involvement was in some way tainting or coloring the critical response, and he resented it.”
The filmmaker chose not to speculate about whether the reviews for “Hillbilly Elegy” motivated Vance to subsequently adopt more right-wing rhetoric. “I can’t speak to that. When I was working with him, all his quotes about the administration were very public,” Howard explained. “He was trying to run an investment fund. So the run for Senate and the strategy he’s chosen to follow are not what I would’ve expected.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Howard noted that, despite its roots in Vance’s life, he does consider “Hillbilly Elegy” a bit of a personal film. “There were aspects of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ that were personal,” he remarked. “I wanted to do something about the heartland that wasn’t a bank-robbing story or about farming.”
