Well, its safe to say that Jeremy Renner, star of Oscar Gem The Hurt Locker, has ascended to the cusp of the Hollywood elite. Whether or not he will stay there is up to him. If I ventured a guess it would be that he will be around for awhile. Although I did not personally think The Hurt Locker was all that it was cracked up to be by the adoring critics (see my review here), Renner did a superb job with his unbalanced character William James. Apparently, I was not the only one to take notice of the talent this 39 year-old possesses.
Renner has been cast as Hawkeye in The Avengers, will star in Ben Affleck's upcoming bank robbery film The Town, and now has just been cast to co-star alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible IV. Deadline broke the news that Renner was chosen by Paramount because they thought he held a "Daniel Craig quality." Paramount obviously sees this franchise moving on even after Tom Cruise is no longer a part of the cast. Deadline explains, "Paramount has struggled to find the right co-star to play an operative opposite Cruise, and one factor was selecting an actor who could potentially carry the series down the line, should Cruise's Ethan Hunt character not continue."
I highly doubt Cruise will return for the fifth movie when it is made, and Paramount is looking for a new leading man, preferably not balls deep in Scientology, to carry on the very successful franchise. Star Trek headliner Chris Pine and Inception's "The Forger," Tom Hardy, were also considered for the role. Both Hardy and Pine are younger than Renner, and Paramount was looking for an actor who can convey a strong sense of maturity. I personally would have taken any of these three to play the part (my personal pick would have been Hardy), but I think Renner is a good fit.
Filming for Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible is set to start this fall in Vancouver, Prague, Dubai, and of course the US. The script going to shoot was penned by Andre Nemec and Josh Appelbaum, writers of the television shows Alias and Life on Mars.
Mission: Impossible IV is scheduled to theaters December 2011.
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