Featured on the cover of the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter, Jeremy Renner has talked revealingly about his personal life and roles in The Avengers and The Bourne Ultimatum. Below are just a few highlights from the chat with the 41 year old actor, but more can be found both by clicking on the link below and obviously in the issue itself. It may come as a surprise to many than Renner was paid only a six figure sum for starring in the Marvel Studios blockbuster, although the fact that he will receive more for returning in future instalments indicates that we'll more than likely see him as Hawkeye again.
RENNER RECEIVED SIX FIGURES FOR 'AVENGERS,' BUT A BIGGER PAYDAY LOOMS
Renner received a mere six-figures for Avengers (he also did a cameo in Thor), but will get more if Marvel exercises its option to star him in up to six other films. As for Bourne, if Renner continues with the franchise (he’s agreed to two more films), the $5 million he received for Legacy will zoom to an asking price of $10 million-plus — and might reach as much as the $20 million Matt Damon received for the series’ most recent outing in 2007.
WHY RENNER HESITATED BEFORE TAKING 'BOURNE LEGACY' ROLE
"It was a game-changer in anonymity," he says. "I had to consider how this was going to affect everyone I love -- especially myself. The star thing, the celebrity thing is new to me. I don’t want to be a good celebrity, a good f---ing star. I want to be a good human being."
THE ADVICE TOM CRUISE GAVE HIM DURING 'MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE' FILMING
Renner prepared intensely for The Avengers, training for six weeks in hand-to-hand combat and Filipino stick-fighting and keeping in mind the advice Tom Cruise gave him while making Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol: "Since you are doing all your stuff, there is no second string and you have to do due diligence not to get injured."
THE ON-SET INJURY THAT SENT HIM TO THE HOSPITAL
On Bourne, "I got injured kicking a table and missing and hyper-extending my leg! I had to get an MRI." He also hurt his arm, which "will be f— ed up for a while. I can’t really grab anything" with one hand. Ditto on Avengers. "He’s an amazing fighter — his fight work is wonderful: precise, heroic, and you seldom have to double him," says director Joss Whedon. "But one day he just turned wrong and his whole body shut down. He could not do anything. He was in enormous pain, and we had to shut that sequence down and shoot it a couple of weeks later."
TOUGHEST CHALLENGE WASN'T THE STUNTS, BUT A NEAR-DEATH SCENE
For Bourne, Renner’s toughest scene did not include any of the significant stunt work that the film required. The most difficult thing was "being sick: I had to degrade to near death in the movie, where I had to shake for many minutes, and it looks like it’s nothing, but when it’s over I was more sore than I was the entire shoot." Director Tony Gilroy called Renner’s performance "very explosive." "This is the highest degree of difficulty, emotionally and physically," he added.
WHY HE WAS ATTACKED ONE CHRISTMAS FOR WEARING A SCARF
Renner tells the story of how, on Christmas Eve a few years back, when he was with his family in a bar, "This guy chokes me with the scarf I was wearing. He called me a fag ’cause I was wearing a scarf! Then he shoved my sister and I got behind him and I choked him out — put him to sleep."