Howard to do film on Camp Fire, promises cautionary tale; Netflix has $45 million for his adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy

Ron Howard

Director Ron Howard will make a documentary film about the catastrophic fire that nearly obliterated the Northern California town of Paradise in November, reports Gregg Kilday of The Hollywood Reporter.

The film will follow the rebuilding efforts of the Sierra Nevada foothills community, where Howard's mother-in-law and 26,000 other people once lived. He "has relatives in nearby Redding, visited the town in December, viewing the destruction caused by the Nov. 8 Camp Fire," Kilday writes. Howard told the Paradise Post then, "You have to see it to really believe it. And you have to talk to the people to really feel the level of both the inspiration and, also, the struggle."

The film, tentatively titled "Rebuilding Paradise," promises "a microcosmic look at the growing global repercussions of climate change through a community destroyed by one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in U.S. history," Kilday reports.

Paradise in Butte County (Wikipedia)

"The people of Paradise lost everything in the blink of an eye," Howard said in a release from National Geographic Documentary Films. "The way in which the citizens are coming together to rebuild is beautiful and hopeful — but no one should have to live through this. Theirs is a cautionary tale about the impending effects of climate change and what it takes to restore the communities ravaged by it. Paradise could be any of us."

Meanwhile, Netflix won the "fierce bidding war' for Howard's film adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance's "critically revered account of growing up in the Rust Belt and a personal analysis of the white underclass, race and privilege in America," Lynette Rice of Deadline Hollywood reports. The book has been criticized for its use of Appalachian stereotypes. "Howard will direct while Vanessa Taylor,  co-writer of 'The Shape of Water,' will adapt" the book for the screen. "The idea is to shoot later this year but cast has yet to be set."

"Netflix is expected to fully finance the project, which could reportedly ring in at $45 million," Rice reports. That indicates the movie "could get a theatrical bow before it shows up on the streaming service," like "Roma," the Netflix feature that has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards.