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Jeremy Renner Talks Avengers 2, Hawkeye & Bourne In Reddit AMA

The Hawkeye star says he'd love his own superhero movie...

Film star, heartthrob and bona fide superhero Jeremy Renner braved Reddit yesterday and invited fans to ask him anything.

What followed was a lovely chat with the Kill The Messenger actor, in which he divulged details about his role in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the possibility of a Hawkeye solo movie, working with director David O'Russell on the Oscar-nominated American Hustle, and erm… Robert Downey Jr's scent.

He smells like candy canes, apparently.

Here are the best bits…

Were you upset about the lack of Hawkeye in The Winter Soldier?
No. I have no feelings about that.

During all the drama of Iron Man 3 and Captain America 2, Hawkeye was nowhere to be seen. Where do you think he would be?
I think you're going to find out in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Would you be interested in doing a standalone Hawkeye film based on the newest Hawkeye comic series?
Am I interested? Always have been interested. I always love Clint, and in the last Avengers: Age of Ultron, we got to dive into him some more. Very excited about the outcome of it, and where it can go in the future. But all I can do is want. And that's all I can do. It all comes down to the content, and really how the puppeteers at Marvel can manifest a story that's worthy of a solo movie. Not sure what that is, or how that is, but I'm confident they can do whatever they want, if they want to do it. And I'd be game.

Is there any chance of you appearing on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D?
I guess, again - those are questions that are tough to really answer, because it's above my pay grade, haha! It's not something I sit and think about. But I suppose if it was offered up, there's an outside chance it could happen. I haven't seen the show, so I don't know how it works, but I'm sure the folks at Marvel have ideas, and when they're strong enough, they'll bring them to me. But I love me some Clark Gregg, he's so great. We killed him and brought him back to life to do Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, he's so good!

Who's your favourite superhero?
I don't have a favourite. My first crush was Wonder Woman, Linda Carter, she was my first crush as a young boy, but that doesn't mean she's my favourite superhero. As a young kid, I was a big Spider-Man fan, I always wanted to be Peter Parker.

Legolas, Hawkeye, and Robin Hood enter an archery tournament. Who gets first, second and third place?
I guess it depends on the bow. But I'm going to have to go with the superhero in that one!

What does Robert Downey Jr smell like?
How about... candy canes. Downey smells like candy canes. Hahaha!

You've worked with Sam Jackson twice now, what's the coolest interaction you guys have had?
I think... anytime you can get Sam Jackson to curse, to speak expletives, that's amazing. It's not very difficult to do, Hahahaha! But he can make bad words sound good! It's amazing! He's one of the funniest guys I know. Love me some Sam.

Is there anything you can tell us about Mission: Impossible 5?
It's going to be badass. It will not disappoint.

Is there any chance of you working with Matt Damon on another Bourne movie?
Is there a chance? There's an outside chance of it happening. I don't have control of that. If I DID have control of that, I would love it to happen, but I don't have control of that.

Were you and Daniel Craig separated at birth?
That's a lovely compliment, to be compared to a handsome Bond character. I was working with Rachel Weisz when we were shooting The Bourne Legacy, and he came to visit on set. And it was kind of fun to sit and have a martini with Bond, you know? Pretty surreal. He's a cool dude. He has a similar plight to me, becoming more well known later in his career, after Layer Cake and so on. We have a lot in common, other than looking similar I suppose. But high compliment, that's amazing. I'd love to do something with him someday.

Will you ever release an album?
Oh, you know? I'm... trying to find time to actually do that. But will it ever happen? I don't know. And I don't know if I'd be ever interested in fully releasing it. I would rather find a role where i could sing, rather than switching to being a singer with an album. I think I'd rather stick to what I'm doing.

Who's the most interesting actor or director you have worked with?
David O. Russell is by far, he used the most different way to shoot, because it was done like a play, lit 360 degrees, so everyone is on, in character, in ready and prepared, all the time, like being in a three dimensional theatre. I've never run from the camera so much as I did on that, because I ran out of material, so I'd have to run to the bathroom, or go to craft services where they couldn't shoot me because it wasn't "period" - that was the most interesting shooting environment, for sure.

Did you ever lose focus on the set of American Hustle when seeing Bale's character?
No, I think - there's a thousand reasons to lose focus. Seeing Bale's character helped me get INTO character, the complete opposite. We have the cast in the whole get up, David was playing music, it was very easy to be locked into that time, place and space, so it was not a distraction, it actually helped me get into character.

If you had a time machine, which historical event would you travel back to witness/experience?
You know, I wanna be back in the age of dinosaurs. I want to witness... I wouldn't want to see the asteroid striking, because then they'd be dead, but I would love to be running from something that's trying to eat me. Some vicious, toothed dinosaur trying to eat me, running to my cave. That's where I'd like to be. That's where I'd go. I'd get out from the time machine and a T-Rex is coming for me, and I have to haul ass. I want to see how long I would be able to live. Hahaha!

What is the best/funniest practical joke you have seen happen on the set?
Oh, seeing happen and heard happen are very different things. Downey is top of the list of most of those, but most of those I didn't see. What I HAVE seen on set... I don't know! Practical jokes... when someone does their off-camera - and it happens quite often - when people are off-camera doing a scene, they like to distract their fellow actor and screw with them a little bit, and sometimes you'll do it naked, or no pants, to try to distract them and screw them up. So I've seen that MUCH more than once. Or at least topless.

Who is your favorite character in "The Jungle Book" and why?
OOOH! You can't have a favourite character in the Jungle Book, they're all amazing! Shere Khan is amazing - Baloo is probably the closest - I think Khan has the best voice, but Baloo is the best character. Classic Disney film.

[related]If you could have shawarma with anyone in history, who would it be?
I'd like to have shawarma with, probably, either Wolfgang Amadeus or Beethoven. Can I do both? A shawarma party. They have composed music that has affected my spirit until the day I die.

Would you rather fight a a Groot-sized Rocket or twenty Rocket-sized Groots?
Groot-sized rocket. I'm going to go with the massive one, yeah. I don't want a bunch of little piranhas coming after me!

Kill The Messenger hits cinemas on 6th March, 2015.

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