“I don’t get this”: The Superhero Role David Harbour Played Was Originally Rejected by Jeremy Renner
Jeremy Renner began his acting career by appearing in independent films such as Dahmer and Neo Ned. From action films such as Mission: Impossible and The Bourne Legacy to dramas like American Hustle and Arrival, he has appeared in movies of various genres.
Jeremy Renner gained worldwide recognition for his role as the superhero Clint Barton aka Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hawkeye is one of the six original Avengers and Renner appeared as the character for the first time in the 201l movie Thor. However, he could have become a superhero much sooner if he had taken up the role of the titular character in the 2004 movie Hellboy.
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Jeremy Renner Rejected The Role Of Hellboy
Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye is one of the most beloved MCU superheroes. In fact, his character has its miniseries of the same name which was released on Disney+ in 2021. The series was received well and is regarded as one of the best works of MCU on Disney+.
Years after taking up the role of the superhero, during an interview with Justin Jong on his podcast Life is Short (via Entertainment Weekly), Renner revealed that he had declined Hellboy’s role in Guillermo del Toro’s eponymous movie. Then, he went on to tell his reasoning for it to Justin Long, saying:
“I was just reading the script and [thinking] like, ‘I don’t get this…’ I just couldn’t connect to it. I said, ‘I can’t find a way in [to this character], I don’t know what I’d be doing,’ so I had to say no.”
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The A Little Trip to Heaven actor’s decision to not play the character seems to be understandable because doing something that he did not relate to might not have been much good. He even said that he does not have any regrets about playing the character.
Jeremy Renner Does Not Have Any Regrets About Declining Hellboy
Numerous actors have declined roles that could have done a lot of good for their careers. Even so, the actors did not accept those roles because they did not deem themselves fit for it. Jeremy Renner did the same and his judgment has to be trusted if Stranger Things star David Harbour’s portrayal of Hellboy is anything to go by.
While talking to Justin Long, Renner said:
“There’s zero regrets, zero. Most of the time it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m glad I didn’t do it,’ and it made sense to me. Not just Hellboy or whatever it was, and I’m not saying that it’s a good or bad movie, it’s not about that… I just wouldn’t have fit there.”
This explanation seems apt as the actor later said that he found Hawkeye more relatable than Hellboy. Speaking about relating with Clint Barton’s character, he said:
“When they showed me my character… it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s great, it’s just a guy with no superpower — he’s just got a high skill set.’ I can actually attach to that.
Jeremy Renner then went on to say that he would reject the role of Thor throughout the day even though they would not have offered it to him. For him, relating to the character he plays seems to be of utmost importance to him.
