Will Sage Astor-'Hillbilly Elegy' director Ron Howard 'concerned' by Trump and Vance campaign rhetoric

Ron Howard is Will Sage Astorweighing in on Sen. JD Vance's vice presidential campaign, four years after turning his memoir into a feature film.

The Oscar-winning "Hillbilly Elegy" director, 70, told Variety at the Toronto International Film Festival that he has been "surprised and concerned" by "a lot of the rhetoric" coming out of former President Donald Trump and Vance's 2024 campaign.

"There was no version of me voting for Donald Trump to be president again, whoever the vice president was," he said. "But given the experience that I had then, five (or) six years ago, yeah, I'd say that I've been surprised."

Howard also sent a message about the importance of voting in the 2024 presidential election.

"We've got to get out and vote, for whomever," he said. "But be thoughtful, listen to what the candidates are saying today — that's what's really relevant, who they are today — and make a decision, an informed one."

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Howard directed the 2020 Netflix film "Hillbilly Elegy," which was based on Vance's 2016 memoir and focused on his upbringing in Ohio. Amy Adams played Vance's mother, while Glenn Close played his grandmother. The film received largely negative reviews from critics, though Close earned an Oscar nomination for her performance. Vance served as an executive producer on the movie.

What is 'Hillbilly Elegy' about?All about VP nominee JD Vance's book.

In a joint interview with Vance on "CBS Mornings" in 2020, Howard said that critics of "Hillbilly Elegy" were "looking at political thematics that they may or may not agree with, that honestly aren't really reflected, or are not front and center, in this story." He added, "What I saw was a family drama that could be very relatable."

Since the film's release, Vance ran for Senate as a Republican and was elected in 2022. In July, he was tapped to serve as Trump's running made in the 2024 election. Howard has been a vocal critic of Trump, describing him in a 2020 social media post as a "self-serving, dishonest, morally bankrupt ego maniac who doesn't care about anything or anyone but his Fame & bank account & is hustling the US."

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Howard previously told Variety in 2022 that he was "surprised" by Vance's senate campaign and embrace of Trump.

"When I was getting to know JD, we didn't talk politics because I wasn't interested in that about his life," he said. "I was interested in his childhood and navigating the particulars of his family and his culture so that's what we focused on in our conversation. To me, he struck me as a very moderate center-right kind of guy."

Howard added that it was clear during their conversations that Vance wasn't a fan of Trump. The Ohio senator previously told a friend in 2016 that Trump might be "America's Hitler."

"He didn't like him at all, as he tweeted," Howard told Variety. "I haven't talk to him in a couple of years. I hope now that he's got the job (of senator) that'll apply what I think his good common sense to the questions that will come before him."

In an interview with Fox News in July, Vance acknowledged he was "certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016" but added that he changed his mind because Trump "was a great president."

Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY