Hillbilly Elegy Trivia | 40 facts about the movie

One of the most captivating Netflix original movies of 2020 was without any doubt the “Hillbilly Elegy”, that is nominated for 2 Oscars.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Hillbilly Elegy is a 2020 American drama film.
2. It was directed by Ron Howard.
3. The screenplay is written by Vanessa Taylor.
4. The movies was based on the 2016 memoir of the same name by J. D. Vance.
5. The film stars Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso, Haley Bennett, Freida Pinto, Bo Hopkins, and Owen Asztalos.
6. It follows a Yale law student who must return to his family in Ohio after a family emergency.
7. After buying the rights to Vance’s book in 2017, Imagine Entertainment announced Howard as the film’s director.
8. Netflix acquired the distribution rights in January 2019.
9. Much of the cast joined that April.
10. Filming took place from June through August in Georgia and Ohio.
11. Hillbilly Elegy was released in select theaters in the United States on November 11, 2020.
12. It was hen digitally distributed on Netflix on November 24.
13. The film was criticized, particularly for its screenplay and direction.
14. It received three nominations at the Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Director for Howard, Worst Screenplay for Taylor, and Worst Supporting Actress for Close.
15. However, the performances of some of the cast received praise, with Close receiving supporting actress nominations at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
16. Oddly, it received 2 Oscar nominations.
17. Adams’s performance was also recognized by the Screen Actors Guild, with a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress.
18. The film also received Academy Award and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Hair and Makeup.
19. The huge glasses Glenn Close wears in the movie are “Mamaws” actual frames.
20. The family loaned them to Close during production.
21. Original author J.D. Vance’s family were on set from time to time.
22. Glenn Close has said that she was gratified to see one of his brothers break into tears while he watched her capture the essence of their grandmother’s character in one particular scene. After that experience, Glenn knew she’d nailed it.
23. In scenes where Usha (Frida Pinto) is talking to JD (Gabriel Basso) on the phone in her apartment, photos of the real Usha and her family can be seen on the refrigerator and in picture frames in the background.
24. Close’s makeup application for her ‘mamaw’ character involved having her nose and ears prosthetically altered by designer Matthew W. Mungle and applied and painted by Eryn Krueger Mekash.
25. This daily transformation only took about one hour to complete.
26. An additional 30 minutes was needed for her wig.
27. Amy Adams and Haley Bennett play mother and daughter with just a 14 year age gap between them.
28. The real Bev Vance had her first child, daughter Lindsay, when she was 19 years old.
29. The first time Mamaw’s children (Author JD Vance’s mother, Aunt and Uncle) were on set and saw Glenn Close made up as their mother they were stunned and nearly brought to tears.
30. They stayed and watched filming of scenes and spent some time with Glenn taking photos- all explained afterwards that it was like Bonnie had been brought back to life.
31. A list of popular cuss words and insults that Mamaw Bonnie regularly used were submitted to the production company by the family.
32. Some, though popular behind the scenes, were too much for public consumption.
33. Nurse Vivian is played by director Ron Howard’s wife Cheryl Howard who can be glimpsed 37 minutes into the film behind a reception desk at the hospital where Bev (Amy Adams) is first admitted.
34. She has no dialog, but Ron always tries to put her in his movies because she is his ‘lucky charm’.
35. A film adaptation of the 2016 New York Times best selling memoir of the same name.
36. Mamaw (Glenn Close) is wearing an oversized t-shirt with a Havenese on it. Glenn’s dog Sir Pip (who was on set during filming) is a Havenese.
37. Glenn Close becomes only the third person to get both an Oscar nomination and a Razzie nomination for the same performance. The other two are James Coco for Only When I Laugh (1981) and Amy Irving for Yentl (1983).
38. Ron Howard and Bo Hopkins were both in American Graffiti (1973) and More American Graffiti (1979), but didn’t share any scenes in either.
39. Marks director Ron Howard’s first collaboration with a female cinematographer, the French Maryse Alberti.
40. During a scene when young J.D. had his friends over on the front porch of his Mamaw’s house, Mamaw (Glen Close) comes up to them asking them a Pol joke of “Why do the Pols bury their dead ass up? So they have a place to park their bike.” Robin Williams said this same joke in his movie “Patch Adams”. Glen Close and Robin Williams were in the same movie “The World According to Garp”.