J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy to be made into a film directed by Ron Howard

J.D. Vance

Whether or not you liked J.D. Vance's 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, it is coming to a theater near you. Ron Howard, who won two Academy Awards for "A Beautiful Mind," will direct and co-produce the movie, Mike Fleming Jr. reports for Deadline Hollywood. "The memoir, which told Vance’s struggle-filled coming-of-age story, became a symbol for the disenfranchised Rust Belt contingent that rallied behind Donald Trump in the presidential election." Vance's family migrated from Eastern Kentucky, which he often visited, and the regional culture plays a significant role in the book.

Erica Huggins, who will co-produce the film for Imagine Entertainment, told Deadline, “Hillbilly Elegy is a powerful, true coming-of-age memoir by J.D. Vance. Through the lens of a colorful, chaotic family and with remarkable compassion and self-awareness, J.D. has been able to look back on his own upbringing as a ‘hillbilly’ to illuminate the plight of America’s white working class, speaking directly to the turmoil of our current political climate.”

"The book made Vance a go-to commentator on the white working class during the 2016 presidential election," Rich Copley writes for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "The Middletown, Ohio, native, whose family hailed from Breathitt County, went on to earn a degree from Yale Law School."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/copious-notes/article143910834.html#storylink=cpy