Ron Howard is commenting on Sen. JD Vance’s run for vice president, four years after he adapted Vance’s memoir into a movie.

The Oscar-winning director of “Hillbilly Elegy,” who is 70 years old, expressed to Variety during the Toronto International Film Festival that he feels “surprised and worried” about much of the language used by former President Donald Trump and Vance’s 2024 campaign.

“Under no circumstances would I vote for Donald Trump again, no matter who the vice president is,” Howard stated. “But reflecting on my experiences from five or six years ago, I can say I’ve been taken aback.”

Howard also emphasized the significance of participating in the upcoming presidential election.

“It’s crucial for everyone to get out there and vote, regardless of whom they support,” he remarked. “But it’s essential to truly listen to what the candidates are saying now—what matters is who they are today—and make a well-informed choice.”

Howard directed the Netflix film “Hillbilly Elegy” in 2020, based on Vance’s memoir from 2016, which portrays Vance’s childhood in Ohio. In the film, Amy Adams plays Vance’s mother while Glenn Close takes the role of his grandmother. Although the film faced generally negative reviews, Close received an Oscar nomination for her role. Vance acted as an executive producer for the project.

During a combined interview with Vance on “CBS Mornings” in 2020, Howard commented that critics of “Hillbilly Elegy” were focusing on political themes that didn’t necessarily align with the narrative, which he believed wasn’t central to the story. He stated, “To me, it was a family drama that many could relate to.”

Since the movie’s release, Vance ran successfully for Senate as a Republican in 2022. In July, he was chosen as Trump’s vice-presidential candidate for the 2024 election. Howard has consistently criticized Trump, labeling him in a 2020 social media post as a “self-serving, dishonest, morally bankrupt individual who is only concerned with his own fame and wealth, hustling the U.S.”

In 2022, Howard expressed his astonishment at Vance’s shift towards Trump during Vance’s Senate campaign.

“When I got to know JD, we didn’t discuss politics because I was more intrigued by his upbringing, family, and culture — that was our focus,” he explained. “He seemed to me like a very moderate, center-right type of person.”

Howard noted that during their talks, it was evident that Vance was not in support of Trump. Previously, the Ohio senator referred to Trump as possibly being “America’s Hitler” to a friend back in 2016.

“His disdain for Trump was apparent, as he tweeted,” Howard told Variety. “I haven’t talked to him in several years. I hope that now as a senator, he will apply what I view as his sound judgment on future decisions.”

In a July interview with Fox News, Vance admitted he had initially been “certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016,” but later changed his perspective, stating that Trump “was an excellent president.”

Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, YSL News