Jeremy Renner Answers The Web's Most Searched Questions

  • 2 months ago
Jeremy Renner visits WIRED to answer his most searched questions from Google. How did his acting career begin? How did he become Hawkeye in the MCU? Is Jeremy Renner a good archer in real life? Is he friends with Elizabeth Olsen? How did Jeremy Renner recover so quickly from his life-threatening accident? Jeremy answers these questions and more on the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.

Mayor of Kingstown streams this Sunday exclusively on Paramount+

Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Constantine Economides
Editor: Richard Trammell; Louis Lalire
Talent: Jeremy Renner
Producer: Justin Wolfson
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Talent Booker: Katie Pearce
Camera Operator: Christopher Eustache
Sound Mixer: Rebecca O'Neill
Production Assistant: Kalia Simms
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: JC Scruggs
Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
Transcript
00:00Hi, this is Jeremy Renner, and this is my Wired Autocomplete interview.
00:04Oh, Internet. Oh, Autocomplete.
00:10What do you have more for me on this sheet?
00:16First board. What is Jeremy Renner doing these days?
00:19I'm thriving. I'm getting stronger. I'm happy. I'm healthy and progressing every day.
00:24And thankful. I've had a lot of love and support.
00:28And the reason for my health and me thriving is the support and love from everybody I've got in my life.
00:33And that probably includes a lot of you guys.
00:35Does Jeremy Renner do his own stunts? Yes, I do.
00:39I'm proud that I do my own stunts.
00:41Even in season three of Mary Kingstown, where I didn't think that I retired as a stunt guy,
00:47I was able to kind of pull some stuff off.
00:49And I'm very happy and pretty proud moment this year for me, from January till now,
00:53to get back in the swing of things, if you will. Yeah, yeah. Very proud of that.
00:57What was Jeremy Renner doing when he was injured?
01:02Probably not feeling too good. That's what I was doing. I wasn't breathing too well.
01:08What I was doing, I was clearing my driveway because we had a massive snowstorm.
01:12And I was on a snowcat, which is a big tank-like machine that moves snow around.
01:18I got caught underneath it on the asphalt, and that's what I was doing when I got injured.
01:22We were having a good New Year's Day.
01:24Even the ski resorts were closed that day, ironically, because there was so much snow.
01:27All the ski lifts were buried as well.
01:29How did Jeremy Renner recover so quickly?
01:31Well, recovery is a lifetime. Recovery is pretty lonely, even though you have a lot of love and support.
01:36I got a ton of it, and I have so much gratitude for having all the love and support.
01:40But it still comes down to the individual, and I think anybody that's in recovery knows that
01:44within that loneliness, there's a clarity of direction and understanding of my body
01:49and what can I do best for my body. The body's a miracle.
01:52I think I can be a testament to how great the body can recover.
01:56And then there's also the other things in life, but I think it came from the collective energy
02:02of all the goodness in my life for the people, and even its well-wishes or just thoughts.
02:08If I crossed your mind, even, that's something that I believe got me better much faster.
02:14They told me I wouldn't walk again, or I'd walk funny.
02:16And now I'm running, sprinting, and doing stunts.
02:18So I got the legion of amazing goodwill of you all. Really, I think that's what did it.
02:27Next!
02:28All right.
02:29Is Jeremy Renner good at archery?
02:31Yeah, I suppose.
02:33I think I can make archery look good.
02:35That's something you have to practice a lot, and I haven't done that in probably eight years.
02:39But yeah, it's great, great.
02:41But I can recurve over a compound for sure, those type of things,
02:44which is kind of cool about what my job is.
02:46This guy won two gold medals at archery, and he was the guy that trained me.
02:50So cool.
02:51So you get, like, real quick insights into, like, the shortcuts and cheat codes into archery
02:55or to whatever the skill set is.
02:57And you get to do that for, like, three or four months and spend time on it.
03:00It's really great, and I love it.
03:01It's a great sport.
03:02Is Jeremy Renner Irish?
03:04German-Irish is my main heritage.
03:06Luckily Irish.
03:07Yeah!
03:08Here we go.
03:09Is Jeremy Renner tattoo sleeve real?
03:11No.
03:12Here we go.
03:13See, no sleeves.
03:14That's just for Endgame, wasn't it?
03:16Yeah, Endgame when I had to shave the head and get the sleeves.
03:19That was during the blip, I think.
03:21But it was cool looking.
03:22Is Jeremy Renner left-handed?
03:23Yes, I am.
03:24Left at most things, except cutting scissors, because they don't have left-handed scissors.
03:28And a few other things I have to do right-handed.
03:30Play guitar right-handed.
03:31But everything else I try to do left-handed.
03:33Yeah.
03:36Jeremy Renner.
03:37Why does Jeremy Renner know sign language?
03:39I have a deaf cousin.
03:41But that was when I was a kid, and I lost all that then.
03:44Then when I had a daughter, I wanted to teach her sign language,
03:47because I knew that she'd emotionally grow faster than her verbal skills could.
03:52And it was also just a fun thing to do.
03:53It was like, more cookies, please, Dad.
03:54And I put the things that I taught my daughter into the Hawkeye series.
03:58And in the Hawkeye series, I became partially deaf.
04:02And he had to start to learn sign language.
04:05And he wasn't great at it, but he started to learn.
04:07How are Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence related?
04:11I asked my dad.
04:12What was he doing?
04:13I don't know.
04:14Are they related?
04:15I think we heard they were like distant cousins or something.
04:17She reminds me of a cousin.
04:18She's very familial to me.
04:19She fits right into my family that way, I think.
04:22She's a great gal.
04:23I love her to death.
04:24Is Jeremy Renner coming back as Hawkeye?
04:26I don't know.
04:27Ask my legs.
04:28Ask Marvel.
04:29Those will determine the ifs and whens if that will ever happen.
04:32I think there's always an option.
04:33I think my body is not going to be limited.
04:35It just comes down to sort of the reason why to come back as Hawkeye.
04:39And is there a real narrative to kind of tell?
04:42We'll see.
04:45Where was Jeremy Renner born and raised?
04:48Modesto, California.
04:49Born 1971.
04:50That was my geographical point of entry, I think.
04:53When did Jeremy Renner film Renovations?
04:55The summer before last, I suppose.
04:58Yeah, because then the accident happened and then the show came out.
05:01Renovations was to send off an idea of taking things that were being wasted by the government.
05:07These government vehicles from fire trucks and city buses.
05:09And in order to get a new fleet, they still have to dump these vehicles.
05:13But the vehicles are perfectly good machines.
05:15So I decided to repurpose them, reimagine them, and give back to kids that are in need.
05:19Like I took a tour bus and turned it into a music studio.
05:23Another one, they lost their dance studio.
05:25This orphanage lost their dance studio.
05:27So then I took this bus, cut a hole in the side of it, made this whole stage flop out.
05:31And this whole proscenium.
05:33And also they get their dance studio back.
05:35So I love it and it's still something I continue to do.
05:37And now I have a foundation.
05:39It's just not limited to vehicles now, but we do help kids and foster kids.
05:42And we're all about it.
05:43When did Jeremy Renner start singing?
05:46As a teenager is when I started.
05:48Started playing drums in a band called Hot Ice.
05:53Oh yeah, I'm sure my neighbors hated us.
05:55I don't know if we ever played out, but it kept us out of trouble.
05:58I always encourage any kid to kind of get into music.
06:00It's so good for your brain and it's also good for your spirit.
06:03I use music as a journal.
06:06You don't see a lot of guys doing journal and diary entries, but music was that for me.
06:10It was cathartic.
06:12It was ways to discover things about myself.
06:15And singing is the expression of that.
06:18Is Jeremy Renner in a band?
06:20I was when I was 13.
06:22We don't know that answer, but right now, no, no.
06:25I did a whole EP about things learned in my recovery.
06:30And to my daughter, I wrote this love song called Wait For Me.
06:34It's the first words I said to her after I saw her after the accident.
06:37And I said, if you just wait for me, all these bones are going to heal.
06:39So each time I would physically get better, I'd see her be less fearful and heal more.
06:44And then music is also, we all know, pretty uniting and healing and emotional.
06:48So there's inspirational songs on it.
06:50There's heartbreaking ones on it.
06:52But it was all cathartic for me to write with my friends too as well.
06:55It was important to share that narrative with them.
06:59Some being my brother-in-law and some very good friends of mine.
07:02So as a solo artist, to put together this collection of songs about the accident,
07:06about the recovery and things learned in it, it's something that's lasting.
07:11And I hope it can help other people as well.
07:16What did Jeremy Renner do before acting?
07:19Wow. I was a good student.
07:22I was a decent son.
07:24I was a writer.
07:27What did I do, man?
07:29I found acting in college.
07:30I went in, I think, as a computer science major or criminology.
07:35I mean, just different things to try to figure it out.
07:37And I found acting.
07:38And then the rest is history.
07:39Just stuck with that.
07:40What was Jeremy Renner's first movie?
07:43National Lampoon Senior Trip was my first film.
07:46It was my first job ever, even on camera.
07:48And I was blessed with the lead role in a National Lampoon movie.
07:52So it was big enough to be the play in my small town.
07:55I was in a role big enough that I didn't have to tell you what role I was.
07:58And it was in a movie.
07:59So I got all three goals that I came down to L.A. to try to achieve in the first job that I ever got.
08:05It took me about maybe a year and a half after being in L.A. and I got that.
08:09So I remember kissing the dirty carpet out in my crappy apartment.
08:12I was so excited.
08:14I'm like, going to Toronto.
08:15I got no idea where Toronto was.
08:17Who is Jeremy Renner in The Mayor of Kingstown?
08:19Why I'm the mayor.
08:20Mike McCluskey in The Mayor of Kingstown.
08:22He's not actually a mayor.
08:24He's more of a power broker.
08:25He's more of a fixer.
08:26He's a friend.
08:27If he's your enemy, it's not good for you.
08:29Does Jeremy Renner know martial arts?
08:31I've never trained in any discipline.
08:34However, I've trained in all the disciplines for many years, if that makes any sense.
08:40It was all through stunts and training for five months in Taekwondo or five months in this or judo throws every day or whatever it might be
08:46to serve, whether it was Born Legacy or whatever the movie was calling for.
08:51I learned from Tom Cruise, I think one of the greatest at the game, on Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol.
08:56He taught me how to train my body like I'm an athlete, a professional athlete, when it comes to stunts.
09:01And I took that advice and I ran with it to this day.
09:05And part of my recovery, I used that even as part of my recovery.
09:08My body awareness was a huge part of me on that ice.
09:12Treat your body like you're a professional athlete.
09:13That perspective that he gave me really kind of bleeds into many places in my life.
09:18And actually, thanks, Tom.
09:19Appreciate that.
09:21On the board, what do you got to say, Google?
09:23Our Jeremy Renner.
09:25Elizabeth Olsen friends.
09:27Yes, we're friends.
09:28I haven't seen her in a while.
09:29I miss her dearly.
09:30We got to do Wind River together.
09:31Before that, we were doing, obviously, we met in the Marvel Universe.
09:34Yeah, I miss her dearly.
09:35She's a very, very, very dear friend.
09:37Say hi to her if you see her.
09:38Our Jeremy Renner and Robert Downey friends.
09:41Yes, we are.
09:43Another blessing of being in the Marvel Universe is forging great friendships.
09:48You're with somebody for 12 years, and people have been through divorces and babies and marriages and all these things.
09:54And we're on not only our family chat for the OG Avengers, but also just as friends in life.
10:00I speak to him several times a week.
10:02And he's a huge, huge fan of Mary Kingstown.
10:04So he forces me to tell him all the stuff before it comes out.
10:08But yeah, of course, good buddy of mine.
10:10Let's go.
10:11Is Jeremy Renner in Lords of Dogtown?
10:12Yes, I am.
10:13Yeah, a short little small scene.
10:15I did it with some friends, and I think we shot for a week or something, or less than that.
10:19But it was good fun.
10:20I was in the Lords of Dogtown.
10:21Was Jeremy Renner James Bond?
10:23No, but I was James Coughlin in The Town.
10:26Maybe you've seen that movie.
10:27Do you know why people might be Googling that?
10:28I wear tuxes a lot, maybe.
10:30I'm in suits and maybe sort of Bond-ish.
10:33Or I look similar to Daniel Craig.
10:35Maybe that, too.
10:36And I'm not English, so I can't be cast as James Bond.
10:39Look, that's all the answers I have for you today.
10:41Don't Google me anymore.
10:42Peace.
10:43I'm out.

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