Having not seen the film, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and only watching the trailer, it’s clear that Ron Howard’s new drama starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close is a clear Oscar front-runner. The trailer features extreme emotions from two incredible actresses bringing their A-game, as well as highlighting some pretty great, subtle visual effects to make these beautiful women look, well, rough. But perhaps one of the biggest parts of an Oscar-winning film’s campaign is the theatrical release, which is made difficult in a post-COVID world.
Speaking to Deadline, Ron Howard explained that the original plan for Netflix’s upcoming “Hillbilly Elegy” was to mirror the strategy used by “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story,” two streaming films that enjoyed Oscar love earlier this year. Now, because of COVID closing down cinemas and others being forced to follow strict health regulations, the filmmaker isn’t sure what type of theatrical release his film is going to have.
“Well, the plan was always to have a theatrical release like ‘The Irishman’ or ‘Marriage Story,’ and others in previous years,” he said. “I don’t really know how many theaters are going to be open and what they’re going to do, but November 11th my understanding is that it’s going to be released (in theatres) and it was meant to be a wider, larger release, but it is what it is.”
Even though the theatrical release for his streaming film is uncertain, the filmmaker isn’t upset with how his time with Netflix has been spent. In fact, he has nothing but kind words to say about working with the world’s largest streaming platform (and one of the only places where dramas like “Hillbilly Elegy” are getting made in recent years).
“Absolute professionalism, good ideas, and the best kind of collaboration you could have with a studio,” said Howard. “So I really felt like their passion for what I thought the adaptation could be never waned and this was a very, very positive experience. I heard that from Peter Morgan [creator of ‘The Crown’] who is a good friend of mine, and Spike Lee [director of Netflix’s ‘Da 5 Bloods’], and just others who I’d talked to who also said they had really positive experiences, and I just have to echo that.”
As of now, it appears that Netflix will release “Hillbilly Elegy” in select theaters on November 11 and on its streaming platform on November 24.
