‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Director Ron Howard: ‘I Didn’t Expect’ JD Vance’s ‘Rhetoric to Be as Divisive as It Sometimes Is’Alana Mastrangelo 13 Aug 2025
Ron Howard, who directed the film, Hillbilly Elegy — based off Vice President JD Vance’s 2016 memoir — said he “wouldn’t have expected” Vance’s “rhetoric to be as divisive as it sometimes is,” before admitting that he is actually not “listening to every word” the vice president says.
“It remains a bit of a surprise to me,” Howard told Vulture of Vance’s emergence into politics, adding, “I wouldn’t have expected his rhetoric to be as divisive as it sometimes is” back when he was spending a lot of time with Vance during the making of Hillbilly Elegy, and attending the film’s pressers.
Despite making a bold claim about Vance’s “rhetoric,” the filmmaker went on to admit that he is “not following him or listening to every word.”
“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,” Howard added of the vice president.
After being asked if he has had any interactions with the “Hillbilly Elegy” author since the time they spent making and promoting the 2020 film together, the Oscar-winning director admitted to texting Vance after he was elected vice president alongside President Donald Trump.
“I did one text, after the election, which was just sort of ‘Godspeed. Try to serve us well,'” Howard reveled.
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