10mo ago

Hillbilly Elegy director Ron Howard says he’s ‘surprised and disappointed’ by JD Vance

www.independent.co.uk

Hillbilly Elegy director Ron Howard hits out at ‘disappointing’ JD Vance

Hillbilly Elegy director Ron Howard has taken a swipe at JD Vance, suggesting that Donald Trump’s Republican running mate has “changed” since he first met him.

Earlier this year, Vance was selected to be Trump’s possible vice president in the 2024 US presidential election race – but before his political career, he was known for being the author of memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which was later adapted into a Netflix film of the same name.

Since being announced as Trump’s running mate, Vance has been criticised for comments that saw him refer to women, such as Trump’s presidential rival Kamala Harris, as “childless cat ladies”. This prompted swift backlash and accusations of sexism, with Vance claiming the remarks were made in “sarcasm”.

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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. So that was then.”
I have a hard time believing that. Filmed in June 2019, and Vance was elected November 2022, I simply don't buy that he 180'd that hard just a year or two later. Perhaps Vance did not talk about campaign plans on set, but without question his narrow bigoted views would've been made clear. Ultimately, I too am surprised and disappointed, but in Ron Howard for making a movie about this ass.
- Look into Vance a bit deeper. He's no hillbilly. Nor Appalachian. He was born in Middletown Ohio. He went to Yale. He's latched on to experiences only heard about in stories from his family. Pretending it was something he did. He's the lowest kind of low.
  
  The thing that f****** got me is he was all read this book and you'll understand why we respond the way we do. And you go through the entire book waiting for the other shoe to drop or the first shoe to drop.
  It goes right from business drying up in Appalachia and drugs moving in, to him trying to scare the s*** out of the poor to hate the foreigners while taking their money and giving it to the corporations who don't give two f**** about the people.
  The book itself is just a grift.
  
  Yeah and for those who aren’t aware, Middletown is in the Dayton-Cincinnati area. It’s not even a little Appalachian, but rather extremely rust belt
  
  Im around Middletown and people around here hate that asshole vance.
- RFK also 180d from never wanting to go into politics to helping the Trump campaign. It's almost like there's something about the Republican party that draws in money-hungry grifters...
  
  RFK Jr. is the real life Connor Roy.
- One of Vance's former friends detailed the downfall of their friendship as Vance rose in politics. Despite their differences they were still friendly until 2021. Full article : https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/27/us/politics/jd-vance-friend-transgender.html
  During their last text exchange that was outlined in the article, they had this to say:
  “I know I can’t change your mind but the political voice you have become seems so far from the man I got to know in law school,” wrote Nelson, later explaining their position “as a trans person who accessed needed health care so I could live a full life.”
  It does seem like Vance did 180 from someone equating Trump to Hitler to Trump's running mate in just a few years.
  
  I don’t even know why this is a question, people can absolutely be radicalized in a short period time, especially the apolitical. Even faster when large sums of money are involved.
- On his press tour, he had a lot of negative things to say about Trump. In conversation with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, he said:
  "I can't stomach Trump. I think that he's noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place."
  In public, Vance said that Trump was, "unfit for our nation's highest office."
  And in unearthed private messages, he compared Trump to Adolf Hitler.
  From 2016. Seems he did drastically change his opinions on trump once in politics.
  
  Vance actually had really good ideas until he went Trump. A mixture of far left and middle right politics. Now you never hear his working class ideas.
  It’s hard to imagine this is the guy who said declare war on corporations
- JD Vance's Wikipedia page:
  In December 2016, Vance said he planned to move to Ohio and would consider starting a nonprofit or running for office.
  
  He did start a nonprofit for help with addiction. No money was spent to help those with addiction issues. It was graft that he used to funnel to his campaign.
  
  Shouldn't that read "planned to move back to Ohio"?
  
  Jfc, good call.
  Okay, suspected 🐂💩 to confirmed 🐂💩. Wtf Ron?
- His mentor says hillbilly elegy was written to propel him into politics. So I find it hard to believe he wasn’t interested when that was the reason for the book
  
  Yes I find it much more likely that Opie was fed a line into that big gaping Gob of his. By a metro sexual upholstery fetishist who saw an easy mark.
- I said same thing not long ago when learned of the fucking movie and saw who directed it. I was sad to think that he was right wing and why would he direct this movie. Also fuck Netflix for funding it.
- You've never spent time around midwesterners, I see.
- I know the Fonzie is turning over in his leather jacket grave.
  
  More likely jumping the shark.
  :P
Ron was happy to cash a fat Netflix check for his bullshit memoir, now shocked he ignored all the signs Vance was an asshole.
- If you don’t understand that Ron Howard has no ill intent in his DNA then you need a reality check on your sad life. Take a break from social media and watch everything Ron Howard has done in his life and shame on you.
  
  Take a break from social media and watch everything Ron Howard has done in his life
  This is advice for how to get a "reality check" on a "sad life"? Watching everything opie ever did sounds more like a recipe for having a sad life.
How ron? How? Why wouldn't a creepy grifter continue to be a creepy grifter
- Maybe he could have just been, I don't know, paying attention? Ron Howard is full of shit, here.
  From JD Vance's Wikipedia:
  In December 2016, Vance said he planned to move to Ohio and would consider starting a nonprofit or running for office.[54][50] In Ohio, he started Our Ohio Renewal, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization focused on education, addiction, and other "social ills" he had mentioned in his memoir.[55] According to a 2017 archived capture of the nonprofit's website, the members of the advisory board were Keith Humphreys, Jamil Jivani, Yuval Levin, and Sally Satel.[56][57] According to a 2020 capture of the website, those four remained in those positions throughout the organization's existence.[58] Our Ohio Renewal closed after less than two years with sparse achievements.[55][59] According to Jivani, the organization's director of law and policy, its work was derailed by Jivani's cancer diagnosis.[60][61] It raised around $221,000 in 2017 and spent the majority of its revenue on overhead costs and travel. In subsequent years, it raised less than $50,000.[57]
  During Vance's 2022 campaign for US Senate, Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee, said the charity was a front for Vance's political ambitions. Ryan pointed to reports that the organization paid a Vance political adviser and conducted public opinion polling, while its efforts to address addiction failed. Vance denied the characterization.[62][63][c] Our Ohio Renewal's tax filings showed that in its first year, it spent more (over $63,000) on "management services" provided by its executive director Jai Chabria, who also served as Vance's top political adviser, than it did on programs to fight opioid abuse.[67][57]
  
  Vance was born in Middletown Ohio. He never was a hillbilly or an appalachian. So it can always get worse. It would be an insult to veneers to call his projected identity a thin veneer. I don't think it's substantial enough to even be a laquer.
  The dude is trading on stories told to him by his parents and grandparents when he was a wee little ottoman fucker. Passing it off as if it was his accomplishment.
Fuck Ron Howard for making a movie about this guy to begin with
I want to know what Clint
the superior Howard thinks.
- Is he smiling in that picture?
Fuck Around: "Sure I'll take money from this revanchist freak to inflate his reputation before a Senate campaign"
Find Out: "Oh no! He's leveraged his position to drag the country back to the Dark Ages!"
Iny surprised and disappointed by Richie Cunningham
That’s because liberals are gullible enough to believe that Republican media and politicians are well meaning folks doing the right thing for the right reasons. And liberal policies and policy makers have basically turned off working folks in rural areas.
"compete surprise" says the whitest guy you've ever seen
- I dont know. Red hair means paler, but also youre a minority and face persecution and have no soul. Its a toss up.

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