Amy Adams will star in Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy from Ron Howard

Amy Adams will star in the Netflix original movie Hillbilly Elegy from Ron Howard and The Shape of Water writer Vanessa Taylor.

Amy Adams is set to star in Netflix’s adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy directed by Ron Howard, according to a report from Deadline. The film is based on J.D. Vance’s bestselling memoir of the same name.

This project is gaining a great deal of attention as it adds yet another supremely talented person in Adams. In addition to Howard and Adams, the film landed screenwriter Vanessa Taylor, who penned 2018’s Academy Award for Best Picture, The Shape of Water.

Published in 2016, Hillbilly Elegy was at the focal point of much of the 2016 Presidential Election. Vance’s recollections of the social problems in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio brought numerous conversations about welfare, blue-collar jobs, and other socio-economic struggles of low-income families. The memoir certainly garnered attention with its controversial comments and launched it into bestseller territory.

Adams is coming off an outstanding 2018 awards season as her role as Lynn Cheney in Vice earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Additionally, she starred in HBO’s Sharp Objects that landed her a Golden Globes nomination for Best Actress in a Limited Series. That series may still land Emmy nominations as the programming window isn’t complete yet. Her prominence in 2018 is of course right on her career path and it only goes up from here.

Netflix seems to be leaning into the prominence that Roma brought to the streaming platform. Other Netflix originals like Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and this film, Hillbilly Elegy, are garnering early attention for the next awards season.

In the midst of these new films coming to Netflix, there is still a large conversation going on about the validity of Netflix films in the awards discussion. Whether or not these films should be eligible or if they should have to be shown in theaters to be nominated for awards. Time will only tell if this Netflix film or the others will have to jump through more hoops to gain entry to the prestige club.