Jeremy Renner, who suffered a near-fatal snow plow accident in January 2023, spoke Tuesday about his recovery at an on-stage talk at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. Asked if there were any “limitations” imposed by his injuries he said, “I don’t think of it as limitations – even though I’m 25% titanium, so fuck Iron Man.”
Renner, best known for playing Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has made a triumphant return to acting after the accident left him with blunt chest trauma and 38 broken bones.
“It’ll be two years in January, and I am very, very proud to overcome a great adversity in my life, and I’m forever grateful for all the love and support I’ve gotten from people all around the world, even those I never knew existed, that helped propel me to get better, and it’s the only thing that really kind of defines me in my life at this point,” he said.
“I’m writing a book about it right now. While I’ve been here this whole trip, I’ve been doing the final edit on it, so it’s kind of fresh in my brain, because I tried to push it away a lot of times. And there’s so many wonderful gifts that come from being tested to your limits of death. Because I did die, and I came back, and I came back for a reason, and nothing to do with me. If it was my choice, I’d rather stay. But I came back, and I’m glad I’m back.
Popular on Variety
“The freedoms and the gifts bestowed on me because of the great tests, you know, crushing 38 bones and eye comes out, you know, the terrible things that kind of happen in a crushing injury, that’s so nothing at the end of it. I can say that now coming out of it, but great blessings unto the love and support of all the people I have in my life. And there’s nothing better than that – the only thing that matters in my life.”
Asked which of the songs that he has written was his favorite, he said it would be one of the three songs he wrote for his daughter, “Wait,” from his “Love and Titanium” album. “The ones that are maybe the more personal to me are probably the ones I write for my daughter … those three songs that I wrote about my daughter. So if I had to pick something, there’s a song called ‘Wait.’ I wrote that song for my daughter because the first words I said to her after the accident were I asked her to wait for me, and not to worry, that if she waited for me that I promised I’d get better. And so I wrote a song about it.”
Renner returned to the set of Taylor Sheridan Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown,” in which he plays Mike McLusky, in January of this year to film the third season, and has recently acted in Rian Johnson’s upcoming whodunit “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” his first film since his snow plow accident. Daniel Craig reprised his role as private detective Benoit Blanc in the film, which wrapped this summer in London, and is set to be out next fall, he said.
“It is a killer cast,” he said. The cast includes “Fleabag” actor Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, Glenn Close, “Challengers” breakout Josh O’Connor and “Priscilla’s” Cailee Spaeny. “We had a ton of fun making it. I think people are going to really enjoy watching this third part of the series,” he said.
Renner is known for “The Hurt Locker” and “The Town,” both of which gave him Oscar nominations, and blockbusters like “Avengers: Endgame,” “The Bourne Legacy” and “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.”