HILLBILLY ELEGY: Ron Howard To Direct Memoir Adaptation

Ron Howard To Direct And Produce Adaptation Of Hillbilly Elegy

Academy Award-winning A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard is set to serve as director and producer of Imagine Entertainment’s upcoming Hillbilly Elegy.

Although Howard first rose to prominence as a child star in the beloved 1960’s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, he has since gone on to become a prolific director and producer. In addition to the aforementioned Mind, he helmed Willow, Apollo 13, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon, and In the Heart of the Sea, the last four of which he also served as a producer for.

Based on the memoir of the same name by J.D. Vance, Elegy tells the author’s story of how he grew up in the Rust Belt and then Appalachia before finding his way out of the poverty that many of his friends and neighbors were tragically consigned to.

Deadline, the source of this story, shares the following information:

“Hillbilly Elegy is a powerful, true coming-of-age memoir by J.D. Vance,” Imagine’s Huggins said. “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.”

Julie Oh will oversee the project for Imagine. WME negotiated the deal on behalf of Vance with Imagine’s Steve Shikiya and Ziffren Brittenham attorney Logan Clare.

Leave your thoughts on Academy Award-winning A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard being slated to direct and produce Imagine Entertainment’s proposed adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy in the comments section below. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Twitter Page, our Movie News Facebook Page, and our Movie News Google+ Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.