"Hillbilly Elegy" director Ron Howard said he was "very surprised and disappointed" by GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s political rhetoric after not knowing about the candidate’s political beliefs.
The two-time Academy Award winner Howard recalled that he and Vance did not discuss politics during the development of the film.
"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," Howard told Deadline at the Toronto International Film Festival.
He continued, "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," he added. "People do change, and I assume that’s the case. Well, it’s on record."
"Hillbilly Elegy" was released in November 2020 on Netflix.
The movie shows the uprising of a young boy raised in a humble Appalachian town and ascending to Yale Law School. The movie was adapted from "Hillibilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," which was written by Vance in 2016 and became a New York Times Bestseller.
The movie starred Amy Adams, Glenn Close and Gabriel Basso.
Vance is a venture capitalist, author and politician. The author-turned politician defeated his Democratic opponent, Tim Ryan, in Ohio’s Senate race in the 2022 Midterm elections.
The "Happy Days" star Howard doubled down that Vance never mentioned his political views. He went on to say that "that was then," yet apparently the Ohio senator and running mate of former President Donald Trump clearly changed.
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"When we spoke around the time that I knew him, he was not involved in politics or claimed to be particularly interested," Howard said.
Since jumping into the 2024 presidential race, Vance has caught flak for a resurfaced 2021 comment, when he said that "we're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies."
The senator, however, says that the statement was taken out of context.
While Vance continues to defend himself, Democrats have criticized the comment since he was selected as Trump's 2024 running mate.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called it "offensive," while Oprah Winfrey highlighted it in her speech at the Democratic National Convention.
