If back in 2007 I had told you Jeremy Renner would be the top action hero actor in the biz, most of you would probably have had me committed to a rubber room somewhere. Although the actor really hit it big back in 2009 for his Oscar nominated performance in The Hurt Locker
, Renner was a recognizable face but hardly what one would call a "star" before then. His most recognizable performances were in 2003's SWAT
and in 2007's 28 Weeks Later
. But now the actor is everywhere. He earned another Oscar nom for Ben Affleck's Boston crime flick, The Town
. He just finished wrapping up Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol, for which he's being groomed for the long haul on that one. He's jumping into fairy tales(sorta) as part of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and let's not forget he'll be playing Hawkeye in The Avengers. All in all we're talking multiple action franchises that he's at the head of. How can he do it? Looks like he'll have to find a way, as it's been reported that Renner has been offered the lead role in The Bourne Legacy, the fourth film in the franchise usually top lined by Matt Damon. The Tony Gilroy written/directed flick will be the first not to feature Damon or his Jason Bourne character, instead focusing on another key player in the Bourne universe. Deadline states that Renner will play another operative in a secret cabal even more dangerous than Treadstone, the group which created and later tormented Jason Bourne. Renner had been rumored to be up for the part for weeks, alongside a number of potentials which included Garrett Hedlund, Dominic Cooper, Joel Edgerton(Animal Kingdom
), and Taylor Kitsch. There's some talk that Edgerton is somehow still in the mix, but I don't see how unless it's as a supporting player. The reason Renner was chosen is that Universal feels he's in a similar position to what Damon was in when he took his career in a whole new direction with Bourne. I don't exactly agree with that, since Damon was a clear cut character actor at that point, and seeing him as a gritty action star didn't make any sense. Renner's star is already shining, and while this may push it to a whole other level, I think it was already poised to do so.
