Jeremy Renner’s performance in Wind River, screening at KVIFF to coincide with the American actor receiving the President’s Prize, signifies a return to the kind of slow-burn character that won him an Oscar nomination for Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker in 2008. Although Renner has lately been cast in numerous roles in the action franchises Mission Impossible and Avengers, it’s as clear as ever why his breakthrough came from his indie film work. Yesterday, he spoke at a press conference and addressed – among other things – his injury.
What actually happened to your arms? You had some people worried in those pictures here wearing your arm and wrist braces. A filming accident?
I broke my arms on a stunt while we were shooting. Something broke, I broke. So it goes. It’s part of the job.
Was there a time when you planned on being a musician rather than an actor?
I have no regrets. I made a conscious decision when I was younger to have music be a pure expression of art or of feelings. I didn’t want it to be a job. So I chose theater, and movies and television. I figured I could to that as a job and also it was something I was drawn to as a job because as an actor, with psychology and human behavior and things like that, it would help me as a man as well as identifying and expressing feelings.
If I was singing for a job all I would be doing is just singing and being tired from being on the road, being sick of the songs and singing them over and over. Who knows? But I really enjoy the choices I’ve made and I feel just blessed that I have the opportunity to express myself in many different forms.
You can read the whole interview in today's Festival Daily.
