JD Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ to Trump’s VP pick: Actors vs. real-life counterparts in Netflix drama
All eyes are on Appalachia.
JD Vance, 39, is back in the spotlight after Donald Trump announced on Monday that Vance would be his running mate in the VP spot on his ticket in the 2024 Presidential race.
Vance first rose to fame for his bestselling controversial 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” about his life growing up in Appalachia, which Ron Howard adapted into a movie in 2020 (now streaming on Netflix).
Its views have gone up 1000% since Monday.
At the time that “Hillbilly Elegy” came out, it didn’t get a glowing reception. The Atlantic deemed it “one of the worst movies of the year” while the A.V. Club called it “bootstrapping poverty porn” that “reinforces the stereotypes it insists it’s illuminating.” The Post film critic Johnny Oleksinski called it “exploitative” and “just a vehicle for awards-hungry actors to showboat.”
Still, it earned Oscar nominations — Best Supporting Actress for Glenn Close, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Vance executive-produced the drama, which follows the story of his childhood in Middletown, Ohio, to how he graduated from Yale Law School.
Here’s a breakdown of the actors in the movie, and their real-life counterparts.
Gabriel Basso
Basso, 29, who most recently starred in the hit Netflix thriller “The Night Agent,” plays Vance in the movie.
“I have other interests in my life: I draw; I play drums and violin. Creativity is much more multi-faceted for me than ‘go be an actor,’” Basso told The Post in 2023.
“I would get bored with just being an action guy, so it’s nice to have other genres I can step in and out of.”
The movie shows JD’s (Basso) early years with an absent father and a mother and grandmother with addiction struggles, before he joined the Marines and went to Ohio State University and later Yale Law School.
Glenn Close
Glenn Close, 77, stars as the family grandmother, Bonnie, who everyone called “Mamaw.” Bonnie died in 2005.
In the film, she delivers the line that later got maligned on social media: “Everyone in this world is one of three kinds: a good Terminator, a bad Terminator or neutral.”
“It was fun. People didn’t know it was me,” Close told People, about interacting with the cast and crew after she’d gone through hair and makeup.
“They thought some slightly disturbing person had gotten on the sound stage.”
Close also told EW that she spoke to Vance about his grandmother.
“No matter how fierce she could be, they sensed that, underneath, she was a damaged person herself, but she had this great energy about her in a non-compromising way.”
Amy Adams
Adams, 49, stars as Beverly Vance, JD’s mother, who worked as a nurse and struggled with drug addiction.
Adams told Entertainment Weekly that when she met the real family, “seeing the way they talked and acted with each other was helpful. There was a dynamic of being open and generous.”
She added, “We spoke to them individually, and they gave perspective on their story, where they were and where they are now. That helped me see the complexities of the relationships and love that they have.”
Freida Pinto
The “Slumdog Millionaire” star, 39, played Usha Vance, JD’s wife. The couple met in Yale Law School in 2013. They tied the knot in 2014 and have three kids: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.
In the movie, Usha supports JD as he balances the demands of law school with his dysfunctional family.
In real life, Usha has since resigned from her job following the announcement of JD becoming the Republican Party nominee for vice president. She was a corporate litigator for the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson in San Francisco.
Haley Bennett
“The Girl on the Train” star, 36, played JD’s sister, Lindsay Vance.
Lindsay is a mom of three who keeps a low profile. In a 2017 interview, she told Megyn Kelly about her brother, “I would die for that kid. And I know he would, too.”
Bennett told IndieWire at the time, “I had to conjure up some painful memories from my past and being a child brought up in lesser circumstances with a father who also struggled with addiction in rural Ohio.
She added, “It’s not easily sugar-coated.”
