I’m loyal to Jeremy Renner. Ask Lainey. I’ll defend him to the mattresses. Why? He pinged on my radar years ago, way before his big break, before SWAT even, back when he was knocking around town, getting drunk and singing in bars (listen, that dude can SING). Renner is the best kind of crazy—wildly fun, knows everyone, throws the kind of parties that lead to you having Nutso is busto written on your arm in Sharpie the next day, with no clue what that means. And yet…
He’s on set at five the next morning, no complaints, no discernible hangover (maybe this has changed as he’s hit forty, but if it has, I haven’t heard about it), ready to go. Few work as hard as Renner. If he isn’t on set, he’s in the gym training or rehearsing with the stunt team. He’s got a laser-intensity to him all the time, which is what I noticed all those years ago. He’s driven. My crush is born of honest roots—an admiration for his cute butt and his work ethic—and since neither of those things have faltered over the last decade, neither has my loyalty.
And now it’s his time. Coming off back to back Oscar nominations and a pair of blockbusters, in August Renner is opening The Bourne Legacy against his bro Colin Farrell’s Total Recall reboot. I like Farrell, but I’m not super into Total Recall Redux, and after seeing the new Bourne Legacy trailer, it doesn’t look like much of a competition. This trailer is GOOD. It’s a stylish, well-cut trailer, but the movie itself looks good. Edward Norton looks totally shady as the government agent hunting Renner’s rogue agent down, and the action sequences look crazy (it’s been widely advertised that Renner did most of his own stunts). And I love how they’ve linked this new guy to the Jason Bourne plot from The Bourne Ultimatum—Renner’s story kicks off as Jason Bourne’s is unfolding in Manhattan. That’s a bold move, as it keeps Damon’s Bourne fresh in everyone’s mind even as we’re watching Renner’s guy take over; it invites (potentially harsh) comparisons.
Last year everyone wondered what Bourne would look like without Matt Damon. Today I’m thinking it looks better than ever.
