Last we heard, there were four actors in contention for the lead role in the Matt Damon-less Bourne Legacy, and none of them were Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner. As reported by Latino Review, The Town co-star Renner is not writer/director Tony Gilroy’s first choice for the lead role. That would’ve been Sucker Punch‘s Oscar Isaac.
In weeks past, a D-girl’s fantasy escort list of young up-and-comers had their names tossed around for the Bourne reboot: Tobey Maguire, Paul Dano, Garret Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch, Kellan Lutz…but apparently Tony Gilroy, the veteran screenwriter of Dolores Claiborne, The Devil’s Advocate and all the previous Bourne movies, wanted a relative unknown to headline Universal’s reboot of the franchise, but the studio had other ideas.
So they’re evidently cramming Renner down Gilroy’s throat. Are we surprised? I’m not, and I don’t think it’s a bad move at all. Jeremy Renner’s Oscar-nominated performance in The Hurt Locker showed us that he can handle such a lead role. His other Oscar-nominated role in The Town showed us he could be a character who couldn’t process his emotions, and was ready to fight or shoot his way out of hard situations. It sounds like Bourne to me.
We still don’t know the story, since this “reboot” will be a stand-alone chapter in the Bourne sage taking the title of Bourne creator Robert Ludlum‘s book and likely nothing else. Well, we’re in good hands with Gilroy, and Renner’s the kind of actor I’d follow anywhere. Complain if you like, but do you really think Tobey Maguire could pull this off?
Universal plans to release the film summer 2012.
Do you think Jeremy Renner can play this kind of role? Do you think we need another Bourne movie?