Actress Glenn Close told the co-hosts of “The View” on Wednesday that Vice President J.D. Vance’s family was being “generous” while they were filming the movie adaptation of his memoir. “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Co-host Joy Behar asked Close about her Oscar-nominated role as Vance’s grandmother “Mamaw” in the film, which portrayed his tough upbringing in Ohio. Close said he and his family visited the set and Vance helped the young actor who played him in the film as a boy with the role.
“We all met members of the family. We all sat with them individually, you know, one on one and, for me, with Mamaw, I would say, how did she walk into a room, how did she sit, how did she smoke, how she laughed, how did she change the chemistry? So that was, you know, the family was very generous,” Close said.
She then paused and said of Vance, “I don’t know what happened,” apparently referring to his conservative politics. Close has been a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party.
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Actress Glenn Close joined the co-hosts of “The View” on Wednesday and was asked about her role in Hillbilly Elegy. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
Behar and co-host Sunny Hostin made some comments towards Vance during the discussion. Vance, buoyed by attention from the book and the film adaptation, successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 2022 before being named Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024.
“He had a very different personality at that time than he does now,” Behar said. “There’s a lot of people who are like that. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is, I think, the name of that movie.”
Hostin interjected, “Well, now he’s talking about childless cat ladies.”
Reviews at the time claimed that the film fell short in portraying the working class. “The politically conservative, anti-welfare slant in the author’s writing feels surgically removed,” wrote Rolling Stone’s David Fear, while The Independent’s critic deemed it an “irresponsible parade of death and despair.”
Vice President-elect JD Vance speaks during a campaign rally at the Elite Jet at Contact Aviation facility on October 24, 2024 in Waterford, Michigan. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Addressing the criticism in 2020, Close said that the Netflix film was ‘not made with politics in mind’.
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Variety’s leading film critic suggested in July that Vance may have risen to become vice president of newly elected President Trump “thanks to Hollywood’s help.”
“It was that dimension of Vance’s story that clearly attracted director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer — both self-described liberals, who may have created a monster by legitimizing his origin story, just as ‘The Apprentice’ producer Mark Burnett did by making Trump a reality TV spot in 2004,” wrote Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge.
Vance’s 2016 memoir was a bestseller and attracted attention for exposing the socio-economic problems of Appalachian culture, and for addressing issues of addiction and violence among the American working class.
NEW YORK, NY – OCT 8: (MANDATORY CREDIT Bill Tompkins/Getty Images) Book: Hillbilly Elegy by author JD Vance on October 8, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Bill Tompkins/Getty Images) (Bill Tompkins/Getty Images)
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Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
