Jeremy Renner has denied that he will be taking on the role of Hawkeye in the upcoming adaptation of Marvel property, The Avengers.
Speaking to Movieline, the Hurt Locker star said: “That was just one of those things that got blown way out of proportion. It was an idea. Those Marvel guys, I’m a big fan of them. They’re so smart about how they want to do these things…So they thought Hawkeye is an interesting role, and asked me if I knew anything about him. I said no, so they gave me their sort of spiel on what he was, and I thought that it was kind of interesting. The only reason it came out this early, because Avengers is two years away, is that they’re thinking OK, we may throw him in Thor, we may not, as a cameo. You know what I mean? So there’s truth that we talked about it, but there’s no truth to me doing it.”
The original idea that Renner would be taking on the part started in Empire, who quoted the actor as saying: “Hawkeye could be interesting. They’re going to send me some stuff on it, see what it is,” in their November issue. This latest comment, however, appears to put paid to any extrapolation on that.
The Avengers is released in 2012, starring Robert Downey Jr and Samuel L Jackson among others. No director has been assigned, although rumoured helmer Jon Favreau has denied that he will be filling the role, despite working on the hugely successful Iron Man and its sequel.
