Jeremy Renner Doesnt Have Energy or Fuel to Tackle Challenging Roles

Jeremy Renner admits, “I just don’t have the energy for” playing more complex characters. And it’s completely understandable given the life-altering ordeal the actor went through. The Mayor of Kingstown star, who is arguably best-known for portraying larger than life roles like the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, and Mission: Impossible’s William Brandt, simply doesn’t possess the “fuel” to tackle difficult parts after sustaining life-threatening injuries back in January of 2023.

While appearing on Smartless, which is hosted by Hollywood mainstays Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, Renner revealed that he simply doesn’t have the “energy” or “fuel” to portray demanding characters following his highly publicized snowplow accident. Renner said during the Smartless podcast:

“I just don’t have the energy for it. I don’t have the fuel.
I have so much fuel to put into this reality, this body… all this stuff.
I can’t just go play make-believe right now,
because that takes a lot of time to get right here every day just so I can have a positive thought
— so I can progress, so I can always keep growing.”

Jeremy Renner Felt ‘Terrified’ to Act Again

While his roles in the MCU and Mission: Impossible franchises — not to mention The Hurt Locker — rank among the best Jeremy Renner performances, it is another part he played that made it “easy for me to kind of slide back into” acting, Renner says. The character Renner refers to is that of Mike McClusky from the Mayor of Kingstown. Renner elaborated during the same interview:

“Because I’m to do, like, f—ing fiction? I’m still trying to live in reality, I’m trying to live.
So, it was a hard line for me to cross. It was a big stretch. It was very, very challenging for me mentally to get over that hump.
I still struggle with it sometimes too, like, I don’t take it super seriously.
I’m in a character that I can do very well, and I know the show very well.”

Renner continued:

“So, it was easy for me to kind of slide back into it [Mayor of Kingstown].
But if it was a very challenging role, I couldn’t have taken it.
Not challenging in the sense that — because the show’s challenging, but it’s if I had to go play Dahmer or something, something so far from me.”

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Jeremy Renner would love an Avengers reunion, but he wonders: “Do they bring back just the OG, or do they bring back 60 people?”

Fellow MCU alum Robert Downey Jr. helped Renner while he recovered from the infamous snowplow accident. And despite his worries, Renner isn’t letting the setback completely dictate his professional future. Renner is slated to appear in Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery in 2025, and certainly Renner’s Hawkeye would be a welcome addition to Avengers 5.