Jeremy Renner on the challenges of returning to the screen after accident; shows scars

Last Updated on June 27, 2024

After his January 1st, 2023 accident, in which a snowplow ran over him – resulting in blunt chest trauma and more than three dozen broken bones – things were looking dire for Jeremy Renner. And yet, he barely even seemed to slow down, documenting his progress for fans on social media and even launching another show, Rennervations. While we’ll still have to wait to see exactly what comes to The Avengers, Renner continues working on Mayor of Kingstown. But as for other challenging roles, he’s opting to sit those out right now.

Appearing on the Smartless podcast, Jeremy Renner said of such roles, “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, you know, have a positive thought, so I can progress, so I can always keep growing.” It’s not necessarily that Renner is actively taking a break (he has been cast in the third Knives Out movie) but instead focusing on the things that truly matter. “I’m to do, like, f*cking fiction? I’m still trying to live in reality, I’m trying to live. So it was a hard line for me to cross.”

On returning to Mayor of Kingstown – the second season of which was on the brink of premiere when Renner was still in the hospital – the actor stated, “It was a big stretch. It was very, very challenging for me mentally to get over that hump. To like, and I still struggle with it sometimes to, 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, so it was easy for me to kind of slide back into it. But if it was a very challenging role, I couldn’t have taken it.”

Renner also teased that he is at work on a book about his accident and recovery, with a goal to release it no later than early next year. Separately, Renner also posed shirtless for Men’s Health, showing off his scars for the first time:

Despite the accident, Renner looks remarkably fit. He recently told us that one of his big goals was to be in good enough shape to reprise Hawkeye for Marvel. It looks like he’s well on his way!