I love it, Mr Renner says, cupping a roll-up cigarette, leaning partly out of the window.
Hes in town to promoteArrival, the sensational sci-fi drama-thriller from director Denis Villeneuve.
What do the aliens want?
Can we trust them, or should we launch a pre-emptive attack?
I absolutely loved it.
When did you go see it?
I saw it a couple of weeks ago, but its still very much fresh in my mind.
I was a big fan of the short story before I saw it.
Thats one thing I didnt read.
Its a fantastic story, but I was wondering how it could be made into something cinematic… Dude, really, right?
I mean, the storys great.
You read the short story, but I didnt want to have something I couldnt do anything with.
But I never thought about it.
The script was great one of the best things Ive read in a very long time.
Fuck, Ive gotta be a part of this.
It was like something jumping out at me: I gotta go do this thing.
But I never thought how visual it was.
You saw the aliens once or twice.
It was really kinda rough.
But you got a sense of the scope.
I never said that.
I went, Holy fuck!
I ran out, fell in the fucking parking lot and cried my eyes out.
I said, I cant believe Im a part of this.
I cannot believe what that guy did with this beautiful script.
Hed made it so damn visual, to get back to your point.
How do you make it cinematic?
This guy just exceeded everyones expectations.
It turns into this giant, beautiful movie the framings gorgeous.
It has that Kubrick-esque quality to it, but the emotional accessiblity of a Spielberg movie…
I was blown away by it.
I still cant believe Im in this movie.
Do you feel like that in general, though, as an actor?
Um, I dont think its something you ever get used to.
Its so far removed from what you do as your job.
You show up to tell stories and hide in a character, explore human behaviour.
Then all of a sudden youre on the side of a bus and you think, Oh, cool.
And thats a year later, you know what I mean?
Its so far removed what we do.
Well, I dont think so.
Im presuming you couldnt see the aliens.
Well, it wasnt a green screen; it was a white movie screen, essentially.
It was in a shell; you had the set, and then a big white screen.
[Laughs] You know what I mean?
It made it easier than staring at an inanimate tennis ball.
He made it a lot easier for us than just staring at a screen, right?
So it helped a lot.
[Laughs] It felt, like, you might as well have the damn aliens there.
Theres a distrust that gradually foments between the countries.
Do you think thats right for the political climate we have right now?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Especially in the political climate, absolutely.
Theres a lot of ties with that.
The huge terror and fear that come up because of that.
Thats my takeaway from it, thematically.
Youre a really interesting and great choice to play a mathematician.
How do you get into the mindset of that character?
How do we deal with this complex information?
He needs to learn, like, this language, right?
And [Amy Adams character] is doing her thing.
How do we make this guy a human?
My initial reaction was, I thought Richard Dreyfuss should be in this thing.
I said, Dont cast me, get Richard Dreyfuss in this thing!
I mean, hes perfect.
So I saw [Ian] as Dreyfuss inJaws that was my initial way in.
He was like, I love sharks!
I love the fuck out of sharks!
Whereas most other people are running from them.
So I used that as an idea his passion towards something.
But also, Lets give him a sense of humour.
Lets give him… whatever my sense of humour is.
Just kind of inject it in there, like, not taking things too seriously.
Whatever it is, right?
That would almost be the cliche of that character, wouldnt it?
Kind of, yeah.
So it worked out alright, I think, with that approach.
I read a story that one studio wanted to make the lead a male.
[This was according toScreen Dailydeputy editor Andreas Wiseman onTwitter.]
[Wearily] Ohhh.
Thats sounds like Hollywood to me.
Jesus Christ, thats terrible.
Its the main reason why I did the movie: for Amy.
I thought shed be great in it, and its a great script, and Denis is amazing.
But also, I think its important to see…
I dont remember the last female lead Ive seen in cinema that wasnt a victim.
And shes a superhero, right?
Shes badass, shes a woman, shes smart.
It has nothing to do with gender its not playing on her being a woman.
It was important to me too.
Its exciting to see a film this intelligent made at this budget level, too.
Yeah, it really is, man.
To have a woman do it, all of it.
It means a lot to me personally.
I dont really care what people think about it, it just means a lot to me.
That the movie got made, in the way it got made.
Jeremy Renner, thank you very much.
Arrivalis out in UK cinemas on the 11th November.