Hollywood continues to turn its back on J.D. Vance.
The GOP vice presidential nominee was a tinseltown darling just a few short years ago after his bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy was turned into a blockbuster film. But not anymore. Glenn Close, who played Vance’s beloved “Mamaw” in the movie, has repeatedly shaded the Ohio senator on social media, and now director Ron Howard is getting in on the action.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Adam Carolla, host of The Adam Carolla Show, to discuss Howard’s remarks and why they may illustrate a larger cultural divide.
Howard Hits Vance
Howard is making the rounds to promote his latest project, Eden, but the media seems more focused on his past work.
During an interview with Variety at the Toronto Film Festival that was released over the weekend, Howard was asked to give his reaction to Vance’s “political ascent” since the big screen adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy was released in 2020:
HOWARD: I’ve spoken about this quite a bit. I don’t really have anything new to say on it, but I have been surprised and concerned by a lot of the rhetoric coming out of that campaign. There’s no version of me voting for Donald Trump to be President again, whoever the Vice President was. But given the experience that I had then 5, 6 years ago, yeah, I’d say that I’ve been surprised. And look, we gotta get out and vote, for whomever. But be thoughtful. Listen to what the candidates are saying today. That’s what’s really relevant. It’s who they are today. And make a decision, an informed one.
He had a similar message when talking to Deadline in a Q&A published Saturday:
DEADLINE: A question about Hillbilly Elegy. You made an underdog story about a poor young man from a dysfunctional family with a grandmother who would not let him fail. That is JD Vance, who is Trump’s vice presidential choice in the upcoming election. He has evolved from that young man into a polarizing, volatile conservative. I’m sure people have said to you, “Ron, what have you unleashed?” How do you process that?
HOWARD: 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. 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. People do change, and I assume that’s the case. Well, it’s on record. 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 think the important thing is to recognize what’s going on today and to vote. And so that’s my answer. It’s not really about a movie made five or six years ago. It is, but we need to respond to what we’re seeing, hearing, feeling now, and vote responsibly, whatever that is., We must participate. That’s my answer.
While Megyn credited Howard for making the movie with Vance even though he “seemed to be more Republican leaning” from the jump, she is “disappointed” with how he handled the questions. “Instead of taking the high road and saying something like, ‘I stand by the storytelling. It was a great American story, and I’m not going to weigh in beyond that. That is for the voters to decide,’ he goes full low road,” she noted.
Ignorance Is Bliss?
While it is impossible to know where Howard is coming from, Carolla believes the GOP has a communications problem in Hollywood and beyond. “It’s interesting when you think about a guy like Ron Howard because he’ll say things I’ve heard coming out of their campaign, things you read on Variety, and USA Today, and LA Times, and New York Times,” he said. “To be fair to Ron Howard, he may just be reading this stuff in the places he gets his information… in which case he would think that that’s what they’re doing.”
Carolla said he sees it with people in his own circles. “There are people in my life who I talk to all the time, and they legitimately have no idea what the story is with comments [from Donald Trump],” he noted. “They say, ‘I read 10 articles… why do I want to vote for a guy who said inject bleach, or all Muslims are terrorists, or day one dictator?'”
Howard may need to “cast a wider net” when it comes to their news sources, Carolla said, but he is not alone. “Ron is probably in the bubble, and the bubble gets their info from within the bubble,” he concluded. “Many of them legitimately do not have any idea what is going on outside of that group… They get their version… then they believe it, and then they form their opinions… Everyone needs to be a little more dubious.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Carolla by tuning in to episode 882 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.