Jeremy Renner’s career has always seemed to be on the verge of taking off, but it never quite did so. He has starred in acclaimed and well-received films like The Hurt Locker, The Town, American Hustle, and more. However, he is best known for playing Hawkeye in the MCU. But the actor never did get to shine among the Avengers as their bow-wielding hero.
While he did get the chance to shine in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, it seemed to be more focused on bringing on Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop to the MCU. But it’s not like Renner hasn’t tried to branch out. He has been a part of The Bourne franchise as well as the Mission Impossible one. In both cases, he was brought in to take over from Matt Damon and Tom Cruise!
Jeremy Renner Once Almost Took Over The Mission Impossible Franchise From Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise has always been a big star, but once upon a time, he did and said things that were more than just eyebrow-raising. For one, he jumped up and down Oprah Winfrey’s couch during her show because he was just way too excited about his relationship with Katie Holmes. Also, he got into an argument about psychiatry during a Today Show interview.
These incidents happened almost back-to-back, and Cruise’s reputation plummeted. Apparently, things got so bad that Paramount Pictures wanted to sever their connection with the actor. They wanted him to hand over the franchise to Jeremy Renner. In an MTV interview, the MCU star even remarked:
“It’s a franchise to potentially take over…I can’t predict the future and what they want, but that’s certainly the idea.”
Basically, Paramount wanted the Minority Report star to return for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and then hand over the reins of the franchise to Renner. After all, the latter star’s presence in the film hinted as such to many. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Yet it’s interesting that it was the plan. The cinematographer of Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, Robert Elswit, confirmed this on the Light the Fuse Podcast.
He said:
“The original version of Ghost Protocol… was at the end of it Tom Cruise stops being Ethan Hunt the agent and becomes Ethan Hunt the Secretary. The whole version of this was they were gonna put another IMF Mission unit together with another actor — maybe it’s Jeremy Renner, who knows who it is — and they’re gonna go through this series of wild events, and at the end Tom gets to be the Secretary, and a new agent takes over the franchise.”
It’s a bonkers idea that could have disrupted the franchise and even ended it. After all, Tom Cruise performing insane stunts is one of the major draws of it. So removing that crucial part made no sense. However, this isn’t the first time Jeremy Renner was brought in to take over a popular action franchise.
Was Jeremy Renner Going To Take Over The Bourne Franchise?
Matt Damon burst into the action scene with The Bourne Identity and then followed it up with The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. The first one collected $214 million, the second grossed $311 million, and the third one took home $444 million. However, Damon refused to come on for the next one, and so Jeremy Renner got the lead role in The Bourne Legacy.
But that film didn’t do well. It grossed only $280 million, less than the second film in the franchise. Thankfully, Damon decided to return for the next film, Jason Bourne, which grossed $416 million. As such, it’s pretty clear that the studio didn’t continue with Renner because of his film’s low collections. As of now, his future in the MCU is uncertain as well. But nothing has been confirmed officially.
Mission Impossible- Ghost Protocol is available on Paramount Plus.
Source: Light The Fuse and MTV
