According to
Collider, yes:
When it comes to Marvel casting this week, we’re getting incrementally closer to the real thing. The Josh Holloway item was just a rumor. Neil McDonough is “in talks” to play Dum Dum Dugan. But Jeremy Renner has been talking to Marvel about playing Clint Barton for some time, and now the actor is in “final negotiations” to join The Avengers as Hawkeye.
Renner’s star rose considerably over the last year after his Oscar-nominated turn in
The Hurt Locker, which opened up such opportunities as Peter Berg’s adaptation of
Battleship and Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled opus on religion. Renner seems to have passed on
Battleship, and the Anderson film could take awhile to come together, so the actor remains a free agent ready to don Hawkeye’s purple bow.
The ensemble cast required for
The Avengers, which Joss Whedon (
Firefly) will direct, is approaching completion. There’s Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man (of course), Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Scarlett Johanssen as Black Widow, and Samuel L. Jackson
as Nick Fury. (Of course, the big missing piece is Hulk — no deal has been made with Edward Norton to reprise his role from 2008’s
The Incredible Hulk.) Heat Vision reports that, to keep the budget under control, Marvel has talked all the featured players into a paycut.
This is all shaping up pretty fantastically. Renner is a great get, and if there is any legitimacy to the Josh Holloway rumor (as Ant-Man, perhaps?)… I would apparently be at a loss for words.
-I dig Renner in this role, personally...thoughts?
Posts
Jeremy Renner is good in anything, so this is definitely good news to me...
ReplyDeleteThis is shaping up quite nicely.
ReplyDeleteYea, I'd agree that he could really work in this role, but I could think of a few other people who I would have preferred to play the part.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what to think about the Edward Norton situation. I loved "The Incredible Hulk" reboot, and thought his portrayal of Banner worked well in that, but if Whedon decides to go the route of Millar's "Ultimates", then he wouldn't be the right choice for the role -- especially since the interpretation of the character is so completely different...
Daren- Indeed.
ReplyDeleteJoshua- We'll see...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this deal is almost done as it's been rumored for some time and I think Renner will be great in the role.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as it's a huge ensemble you'd think they could limit Norton's screentime if he doesn't want to commit a huge amount of his time to the film. Feature the Hulk mostly in CG form a lot and get someone else to do the motion capture stuff for Norton. I have a feeling it's more about Norton having no control over the film though, as he only agreed to do the last Hulk film if he was able to rewrite the script. I do hope that some deal can be worked out as I though Norton was great as Banner.
Time will tell, in that regard.
ReplyDelete