"Hillbilly Elegy" surges on Netflix after Trump backs Vance

When Trump announced that he had chosen J.D. Vance as his vice-presidential candidate, everyone wanted to learn more about him. The film "Hillbilly Elegy" is based on his book. Four years after its release, incredible things are happening.

It’s rare for a film to gain such popularity years after its release. "Hillbilly Elegy," directed by Ron Howard, appeared in theaters in 2020 and received two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Glenn Close) and Makeup and Hairstyling. At the same time, Close was nominated for the Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actress. Diplomatically, one could say that the film evoked emotions. And as it turns out, nothing has changed after four years. "Hillbilly Elegy" resurfaced after Donald Trump's election convention.

As we reported, on July 16, "Hillbilly Elegy" jumped to the 6th spot among the most popular Netflix titles in the US. Why? It is based on the autobiographical book by J.D. Vance, the vice-presidential candidate of the United States. Let's add that the "New York Times" included this book among the most important titles explaining Donald Trump's electoral success in 2016. It talked about people from small towns in the working-class region of Appalachia who were affected by various crises, including economic ones.

In the film, Vance—a former Marine and now a law student at Yale University—is on the verge of landing his dream job but returns to his family home. His mother, the emotionally unsettled Bev (played by Amy Adams), struggles with addiction, while his sharp, unyielding grandmother, Mamaw (Glenn Close), is his only true guardian. Vance must accept his past and try to navigate this complicated family situation.

"Hillbilly Elegy" remained in the Netflix library, reaching a somewhat limited audience over the years. Everything changed after the Republican convention. The popularity of the film about J.D. Vance's family history skyrocketed. A few days after he was announced as the vice-presidential candidate, the film had over 1,179% more viewership than the day before the convention. On Monday, July 15, the film was watched for 19.2 million minutes.

Now "Variety" has calculated the viewership of the most popular streaming films for the period from July 26 to August 1. The creators of "Hillbilly Elegy" are probably scratching their heads. During that time, the production was watched for 197.6 million minutes, giving it the second place among all films available on streaming platforms.

The first place is "Find Me Falling"—also on Netflix. The film’s protagonist is the aging rock star John Allman (Harry Connick Jr.), who decides to take a break from his career and retreat to a secluded house on the picturesque coast of Cyprus after his latest album flops. During its premiere weekend, it recorded 14.4 million views. The latest data indicates that the romantic comedy was watched for a total of 309 million minutes.