Hillbilly Elegy True Story: What The Movie Changes About J.D. Vance

Hillbilly Elegy True Story: What The Movie Changes About J.D. Vance

Part of every writer’s job when adapting stories to the big screen is to make changes that would make for a better movie, and Ron Howard’s 2020 adaptation of J.D. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy is no exception to those sorts of changes. While the vibrant Appalachian characters that comprise J.D.’s family maintain their essence in many ways, Howard re-ordered and embellished certain plot points to affix a more appropriate cinematic structure to the story. Although these changes certainly failed to rescue Hillbilly Elegy from dismal reviews, it’s worth examining what’s real and what isn’t.

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In Netflix’s adaptation of Vance’s memoir, director Ron Howard takes some artistic license to piece together this reconciling of lifestyles.