Joel Edgerton Had No Idea How Jeremy Renner Beat Him for ‘The Bourne Legacy’
Actor Jeremy Renner was once appointed as the new lead for Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne films. But before Renner was in the picture, Joel Edgerton was seriously considered as Damon’s successor.
Joel Edgerton felt he had strong support for ‘The Bourne Legacy’
Bourne Legacy filmmaker Tony Gilroy considered Renner to be more than capable of leading Damon’s highly acclaimed spy franchise. Gilroy had a hand in writing all three of Damon’s Bourne movies, and would end up in the director’s chair for Legacy. After meeting Renner, Gilroy knew immediately that the Marvel star was right for the role. Especially since Gilroy and the team weren’t just looking for a good actor for Legacy.
“We knew how demanding the part was going to be and how high the bar was that Matt had set for us,” Gilroy once told The Telegraph. “We needed a great athlete and someone who wasn’t clearly identified yet in audiences’ minds. Jeremy wasn’t even on my list but when we met him we said, ‘Oh my God, he has all this stuff and no one really quite knows him yet. We can be the ones to put a pin in him.’”
Renner would accept Legacy after being offered the role. But before Renner, it seemed Gilroy and the studio were actually looking at Star Wars star Edgerton to potentially fill Damon’s shoes. Edgerton was almost sure the part was his, so when Renner claimed the role, it was admittedly quite a surprise.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever know the complete machinations of it. I do know there was really strong support for me from certain members of the team, but it wasn’t unanimous,” Edgerton once said according to Contact Music.
Jeremy Renner was concerned about ‘The Bourne Legacy’ because of his appreciation for the franchise
Renner initially didn’t jump at the chance of doing Bourne Legacy. Rather, he had more than a few concerns about being the face of the popular spy thrillers. Renner was already a known name thanks to playing the superhero Hawkeye in the Marvel franchise.
But as part of an ensemble, Renner often had to share the spotlight with his contemporaries. Legacy, however, would’ve seen Renner running the show on his own. And he feared that Legacy risked taking away what little privacy he could enjoy while in public.
“It was a game-changer in anonymity,” Renner once told The Hollywood Reporter. “I had to consider how this was going to affect everyone I love — especially myself. The star thing, the celebrity thing is new to me. I don’t want to be a good celebrity, a good f***ing star. I want to be a good human being.”
Apart from that, Renner was also concerned that Legacy might not live up to the quality of previous Bourne movies. But reading the script put his concerns at ease.
“Creatively yes, I wasn’t so sure how they were going to do it, and it concerned me being a fan of the franchise. But I really wanted to be a part of that, but I didn’t get how they would pull the storyline off. But then they sent me the script, and I went ‘Whaooohh, wow this is a really exciting idea,’ so I couldn’t wait to get involved,” he said in an interview with The Young Folks.
Joel Edgerton never imagined himself as an action star
Edgerton was surprised by some of the roles he was offered around the time period of Bourne Legacy. He was cast in the 2011 drama Warrior as an MMA fighter grappling with his brother Tom Hardy. But Edgerton never saw himself the type of actor audiences would see in action thrillers.
“I’d never really imagined myself as an action star,” Edgerton told The Scotsman back in 2011.
Still, he he felt fortunate for the options he was given, and the position that put him in the film industry.
“But with Warrior, with Animal Kingdom, with nearly getting the job on the new Bourne film, all of a sudden I feel like I’ve been tapped on the shoulder as the new guy in town and there are lots of opportunities that I wouldn’t have dreamed would be available before. I just want to make the right choices,” Edgerton said.
