Ron Howard, the director behind “Hillbilly Elegy” and “A Beautiful Mind,” stressed to Variety the importance of exercising your right to vote in the upcoming presidential election in November.

The director stopped by Variety's Toronto Film Festival Studio to promote his upcoming film "Eden" along with its cast, which includes Sydney Sweeney, Jude Law, Ana de Armas and Daniel Brühl. There, the director was asked about his previous work, which saw him adapt current vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance's memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" into a 2020 film starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close. What has Howard thought of Vance's political rise since he adapted his story years ago?

"I'm surprised and concerned about a lot of the rhetoric that came out of that campaign," Howard said. "There's no version of me that would vote for Donald Trump again for president, no matter who the vice president was. But given the experience that I had five, six years ago. Yeah, I would say I'm surprised. And look, we need to go out and vote, whoever it is. But be deliberate. Listen to what the candidates are saying today, that's what's really relevant, it's who they are today. And make a decision, a deliberate decision."

The film debuted on Netflix in November 2020, and while the announcement that Vance would be Trump's running mate boosted Netflix ratings, the film was plagued by negative reviews. Variety wrote that Gabriel Basso's portrayal of Vance was "so unbelievably likable that the fate of his soul never seemed at stake."