Ron Howard, Director of Hillbilly Elegy, Shares Disappointment Over JD Vance’s Rhetoric

The director of a film based on Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance’s popular memoir has revealed that he is not as impressed with the GOP running mate as he once was.

Ron Howard—known for his expansive career from child actor on the Andy Griffith Show to award-winning director of films like Hillbilly Elegy—said that he is “surprised and disappointed” to hear a significant amount of the senator’s “rhetoric.”

Howard made the comments at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is being held in Canada this week. The successful director managed the 2020 movie based on Vance’s bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which shows his first-hand experience and journey from rural and working-class America.

The film, whose book inspiration was released four years earlier, was met with mixed reviews. But although the Ohio senator assisted with the movie adaptation of his memoir, Howard’s recent reflection indicates he believes that the lawmaker was not the same person with whom he collaborated for the film.

The famed Hollywood director said that “people do change” and that he “assume[s] that’s the case” regarding Vance. Howard noted that he “spoke” with the lawmaker and got to know him before he was “involved” or “particularly interested” in politics.

The director also said, in a different interview, that he is not planning to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming election, regardless of his disappointment in the GOP running mate. He also said that he did not discuss politics with Vance during the filmmaking process, saying he was more intrigued by the lawmaker’s “upbringing and that survival tale.”

But now that Vance is deep into the political field, Howard is “concerned” about the vice-presidential nominee’s views. As it turns out, the award-winning film director is not the only voter displeased with the Ohio senator as a potential White House leader. In a recent national favorability poll, Vance only garnered 36% of positive views from likely voters.

Tim Walz, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ running mate, was viewed positively by 48%. Additionally, 47% of independent voters said they were not in favor of Vance while only 36% had similar views about Walz.