A-list actor, camping gear spokesman, makeup artist – Jeremy Renner has worn many hats
throughout his life. These are some of the weirder parts you may have forgotten about.
A lot of celebrities launched apps in the
mid-2010s, and Jeremy Renner certainly wasn't the only one who lacked Kardashian-level fame at the
time. So while the genesis of the Jeremy Renner app certainly makes the actor appear a little
eccentric, it might not have seemed like a totally insane idea in 2017. Today, the Jeremy Renner app
absolutely seems like a totally insane idea, but that's only because of our power of hindsight.
Sadly, the Jeremy Renner App devolved into a clustermuck of mythic proportions. Folks didn't
always comprehend what it was supposed to do or why it should cost money. Its service was prone to
glitches and confusing info. Trolls impersonating Renner and potentially-upsetting figures like OJ
Simpson and Casey Anthony inundated the service. In 2019, Renner himself pulled the plug.
While we obviously don't have any knowledge of the man's personal finances,
it's possible Jeremy Renner doesn't need to continue acting. Even if Marvel decided to
kill off Clint Barton, it's not like he'd be wanting for roles or – presumably – money.
Ever since his acting career began generating cash in the early '00s,
Renner's cultivated a side business in buying, renovating, and re-selling multi-million dollar
residences. As of a 2016 Bloomberg report, Renner had purchased and remodeled upwards of 20 houses.
"So you and your buddy buy the house, move into it, while you're renovating?"
"And then start tearing it apart."
In an interview with Bloomberg,
Renner had this to say about his relatively unglamorous moonlighting in real estate:
Before Renner caught a
break with S.W.A.T. in 2003, he performed around Hollywood in a rock group called Sons of Ben,
which included members of Tonic. You might not immediately recognize the
name "Tonic," but you've probably heard the group's 1996's alternative rock hit "If You
Could Only See." Renner told Playboy in a 2015 interview:
Like a handful of other celebrities,
Jeremy Renner has an Amazon store. This store contains fishing gear,
a portable cooler, plenty of archery paraphernalia, poison ivy ointment,
a flannel shirt, and jeans — all the products necessary for Jeremy Renner,
or an individual hoping to emulate Jeremy Renner, to go on an adventure in the great outdoors.
However, an investigation from Slate raises questions. While not making any
assertions about Renner's actual acumen as an outdoorsman, the article does point out that
Renner doesn't look like he knows what he's doing while posing with camping gear for his
Amazon promotional shots. Renner points his bow and arrow away from its target,
and he sits next to a campfire that's surrounded by flammable objects — both
obvious safety hazards. Additionally, he holds binoculars without looking through the lenses.
In fairness, Renner doesn't hunt or fish, which explains why his photo with a reel
and rod combo looks a little awkward. He's also modeling these products, so,
you know – it wouldn't make sense to hide the celebrity face behind those binoculars.
Let's face it — human
civilization is insecure about its masculinity. On that note,
Jeremy Renner's a guy who plays tough dudes in movies. It just so happens that he once
worked as a makeup artist at a Lancôme outlet in a Modesto, California, mall. And numerous Renner
profiles have treated this fact as much more interesting and unusual than it actually is.
According to the first episode of "The Renner Files" podcast, his stint with Lancôme took place
in the '90s. Back then, the eventual cast member of Avengers: Endgame needed a day job to cover
basic living essentials between commercial gigs and stage plays. Renner explained on the podcast:
Nowadays, Jeremy Renner is a
guy you call when your movie needs a Han Solo-type of dude — irreverent and rough
around the edges but basically well-intentioned. Earlier in his career, Hollywood nudged Renner in
a very different direction. At that point, agents and casting directors saw him more
in the frequently villainous mold of Jared Leto than as a potential next Harrison Ford.
And here's a little-known fact: The Avengers was actually Renner's second collaboration with Buffy
the Vampire Slayer creator and Avengers director Joss Whedon. As it turns out,
Renner played Penn — a vampire and serial killer who terrorizes Los
Angeles — in a 2000 episode of the Buffy spinoff Angel. And in 2002,
Renner added his first headlining movie role to his resume with the true crime biopic Dahmer.
If S.W.A.T. hadn't come along and shifted his career trajectory, Renner might've evolved
into the sort of actor whose name pops up whenever it's time to cast another Joker.
It's routinely reported that Jeremy Renner does
his own stunts whenever humanly possible, and he's also never been shy about telling interviewers his
attitude about fear. He has what you might call mixed feelings about fear. He's never said he
hates it, but he clearly considers it a somewhat overrated instinct. Renner told Playboy in 2015:
By the magazine's account, Renner claims he did something scary every day from his early 20s
into his early 30s, and the result is a reduced vulnerability to fear. Renner told the magazine:
"You're a wild man, you know that? He's a wild man, you know that? I want to shake your hand."
As he has no idea if it's ever helped him on auditions,
Renner doesn't credit his supposed ability to neutralize fear for his acting success. But
he does say limited vulnerability to fear made him a better actor,
in the respect that it allows him to deliver the most honest possible version of his characters.
To be clear, we think
it's unlikely that Jeremy Renner will ever convince himself that he truly is Clint Barton,
and get picked up by law enforcement after a period of wandering around the Nevada desert
shooting arrows at HYDRA agents only he can see. But if it ever comes to that,
at least he's got the outfit handy. During a 2021 Jimmy Kimmel appearance, Renner said
he never left any Marvel movie set with props as souvenirs, having been instructed not to do that.
Later, he found out the rest of the Avengers main cast just took whatever they felt
like whenever they wanted. In fact, Chris Hemsworth owns multiple Mjölnirs and keeps
the ill-gotten magic hammers scattered around his house. After learning this,
Renner helped himself to a Hawkeye costume. Today, when Jeremy Renner volunteers at his
daughter's elementary school, he does so in full-on Hawkeye regalia.
"So I said fine if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it dressed as Hawkeye."
As is widely reported, Jeremy Renner
prefers to do his own stunts. As you can imagine, that makes injuries on set more likely. According
to Vanity Fair, a scene for the 2018 movie Tag took a disastrous turn that subjected Renner to
a 20-foot fall and a pile of broken bones. Renner broke both his arms, didn't notice, and agreed to
do another take of the same stunt before heading over to the hospital. The actor told Vanity Fair:
In this instance, continuing on meant the special effects department had to go the
extra mile and provide Renner with CG limbs to fill in for his temporarily immobilized arms.
"It was the only time I ever got injured was on this comedy."
Unlike the many other celebrity cameos sprinkled throughout Glass Onion:
A Knives Out Mystery, Jeremy Renner's appearance matters to the plot and doesn't,
in the strictest sense, actually happen. At least not in the flesh.
Among fan-favorite cameos like Hugh Grant as Benoit Blanc's husband Phillip,
Serena Williams actually on a live monitor in the home gym waiting for
someone to ask for a workout, and all of Blanc's Zoom-linked Among Us playmates,
Jeremy Renner's face only appears on the label of his own fictional hot sauce.
"That's Jeremy Renner's small batch hot sauce. I
let him invest. He sends me like a pallet every year."
In a joke so meta as to be utterly believable, Renner's penchant for side hustles -– celebrity
app, Amazon store, house flipping, "rock music" -– was poked fun at with the introduction of
a private label hot sauce by the actor that shows up at a pivotal point in the
story to provide a crucial function. Is writer-director Rian Johnson an actual
genius or is he just a huge "Hot Ones" fan? What if he's both? The world may never know.
Announced in February 2022 at the Television Critics' Association Press Tour, Rennervations
is a four-episode reality TV documentary that will stream on Disney+ in 2023. The
announcement outlines that the show finds Renner traveling the world and helping communities by
"reimagining unique purpose-built vehicles." We're not exactly sure what that means, but in
December 2022 Renner shared a short clip to his Instagram promoting the upcoming show by saying,
Given Renner's established history of remodeling homes -– not to mention the play on words of the
show's title -– it seems fair to assume that the actor and his team will be renovating something
for families or communities in need. This could mean RVs, school buses, food trucks,
mobile health clinics, or roving libraries. Depending on the situation, those types of
vehicles revamped could make a huge difference in people's lives. And with only four episodes on
the docket, audiences might enjoy a little slice of feel-good TV amidst the chaos of daily life.
As 2022 ended, Jeremy Renner's Nevada home was snowed in. On January 1, 2023, Renner was plowing
the roads nearby with his Snowcat when there was an accident and Renner suffered critical injuries
to his legs and chest. The actor was airlifted to a local hospital and underwent two surgeries
for blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries. Following the surgeries, Renner was moved into the
ICU and listed in "critical but stable condition," according to a statement released by his family.
Celebrity news outlet Extra reported on January 2nd that Renner was "conscious,
stable, and speaking" prior to his surgeries. On January 3rd, Renner shared a new photo to
his Instagram, revealing some of his injuries. CNN reported further details of the incident,
clarifying that the Snowcat started rolling away when Renner was not in the driver's seat
and that the accident occurred as he attempted to get back in. The Washoe County Sheriff's
Department has impounded the vehicle and will inspect it for mechanical issues,
but called the event "a tragic accident" and does not suspect foul play of any kind.
Samantha Mast, Renner's publicist, released a statement earlier that same day that said,