The Hollywood Reporter reports what Latino Review scooped everybody on a few weeks ago: Jeremy Renner will star in Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy, a spinoff from the popular Matt Damon series based on Robert Ludlum's novels. For those keeping count, yes, that means that the Hurt Locker actor will be starring in three potential spy franchises at once. Is he the new Michael Caine (who must have more spy roles to his credit than almost any other actor), or is he over-extending himself in a mad grab for every franchise dangled in front of him? Besides The Bourne Legacy, Renner also stars alongside Tom Cruise (another actor with a number of espionage roles under his belt) in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (for which he's been widely touted as a potential successor to Cruise in future installments of the series) and The Avengers. The latter is not based on the real Avengers of Sixties TV, but on the unrelated Marvel comic book series of the same name. Yet Renner's role is still a spy one. He plays Hawkeye, a super-agent of Nick Fury's spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and just the other day Marvel prexy Kevin Feige stated the company's hopes that Hawkeye will prove popular enough in Joss Whedon's movie to spin off into his own series. So that's a lot of spying for Jeremy Renner. I don't begrudge the guy taking all the starring roles he's offered (I mean, he's not even a proven star yet!), but as a spy fan I do kind of wish we had more variety to look forward to in our spy heroes. It seems like Renner, Robert Downey Jr. and Daniel Craig now control a small monopoly on all franchises... so get used to them!
By the way: the guy behind Renner in that picture from The Hurt Locker is Anthony Mackie, who was supposedly also in contention for the new Bourne role. He might have been a more interesting choice.
My only problem with Jeremy Renner in a Bourne film is he looks a little like Matt Damon. Not too much, but enough. Since this is supposed to be a different character, I think they should have got someone more dissimilar to Damon.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I see your point. I have a feeling that his similar looks are actually part of why he's cast, but it might not be an advantage. I don't mean to sound down on Renner, though. I think he's a great actor and overall a good choice... certainly much better than some of the other ones mentioned. But it does seem a little weird to put one guy in ALL the spy franchises!
ReplyDeleteUnless, of course, this casting might hint that the rumors about him taking over M:I from Cruise are all a smokescreen, and his character might pull a Jon Voigt in Ghost Protocol...