PHOTOS: Movies Filmed In Butler County
Here’s the latest in the movie’s production:
Choosing a director
Vance told the Journal-News he was approached in early 2017 by several directors looking to make “Hillbilly Elegy” into a movie.
“I’m a pretty private person and felt uncomfortable by it,” Vance told the Journal-News that year. “It was hard enough for me to write the book, but a movie is a much bigger stage. It’s a much larger invasion of privacy.”
After denying “a few relatively famous filmmakers,” Vance said he shifted gears and agreed to talk with a few of them.
That included Ron Howard, the director of award-winning blockbuster movies like "Backdraft," "Apollo 13" and "A Beautiful Mind."
“Ron was just … this incredibly kind and thoughtful guy, but he also was doing something that I was trying to do with the book, which was tell a story about a group of people who don’t get stories told about them very often and he seemed very interested about approaching the project carefully and thoughtfully and compassionately and really just revealing … what he thinks is an important story and I obviously think is an important story, too,” Vance said.
Ron Howard scouts filming locations in Middletown
Howard was seen in Middletown this past week, possibly scouting locations for the movie’s filming.
MORE: Filmmaker Ron Howard spotted in Middletown coffee shop
MORE: Resident shares chance meeting with Ron Howard in Middletown
Vanessa Taylor, nominated for an Oscar for co-writing with Guillermo del Tor the Best Picture nominee "The Shape of Water," will adapt "Hillbilly Elegy," for the big screen, according to Deadline Hollywood.
Taylor, a writer and co-producer on HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” also penned “Divergent” and “Hope Springs,” according to Deadline Hollywood.
MORE: J.D. Vance opens up about movie adaptation of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’
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