Jeremy Renner claims he was made an 'insult offer' from Disney of only half his previous pay to reprise role in Hawkeye series two - after near-death accident

Daily Mail​

04-05-2025

Actor was lucky to survive when he broke 38 bones after a 14,000lb snow plough crushed him – but now, two years on, he insists he wouldn't turn back the clock despite ongoing struggles with his injuries.
The two-time Oscar nominee, who played Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and a Disney+ series, shows no self-pity as he revealed the near-death experience has transformed his life – making it far simpler, better, and more stress-free than before.
Indeed, the star of Hurt Locker and The Bourne Legacy said his first thought when he regained consciousness was that he could wipe his future packed diary of filming commitments clear – and a feeling of delight that he was free to do what he wanted.
Although Renner says he has not given up on his acting, he said he will now be much more choosy and put other parts of his life first before taking roles.
That means trying to look for roles in locations where he can take his 12-year-old daughter Ava with him – seeing them as opportunities for family breaks with some work thrown in.
However, one role he won't be playing in the near future is his old character in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, after he said he was made an 'insult offer' of only half his previous pay to reprise his character.
Renner – who often performed his own stunts in the past - slammed the pay cut, as he questioned whether it had been reduced because of his injuries.
Speaking now in his most in-depth interview since his horrific accident on New Year's Day 2023, he also told how being taken to pregnant women's classes as a child, where he learned a breathing technique for childbirth, saved his life.
His new book about his brush with death is even called 'My Next Breath'.
Taking the positives from the accident, Renner said it had brought his entire family closer together, with his mother and sister reconciling after they had previously fallen out and stopped speaking to each other.
Renner became something of a real-life action hero after he somehow emerged alive from under the wheels of his snow plough on January 1, 2023.
He was trying to save his 27-year-old nephew, Alexander Fries, from being crushed by the vehicle when he himself fell and was slowly rolled over by the wheels and blades outside his home in Lake Tahoe, California.
As Renner jumped towards the stop button, he lost his footing and landed on the ice in front of the moving vehicle.
His injuries included 14 broken ribs, a spinal fracture, a broken tibia, a punctured lung, a sliced liver, a broken and dislocated collarbone, a smashed-up jaw, and an eyeball that popped out its socket, which he could see with his other eye.
He was airlifted to Reno hospital in Nevada for surgeries and later to Los Angeles for more operations.
Speaking to Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes for a forthcoming episode of the High Performance podcast, Renner said he knew if he passed out and stopped breathing he was a 'dead man'.
He said: 'Under that snowcat body awareness was huge.'
Renner turned to the Lamaze childbirth breathing technique he'd picked up when his mother took him along to classes with pregnant women when he was just 11 years old.
He said: 'I'm like 'Lamaze breathing'. I mean it is exactly what I was doing on the ice to survive, to manage and mitigate pain - the greatest gift my mom ever gave me, she didn't even try to give me.
'It was just like she didn't have a babysitter, so she just brought me. That was the greatest gift and tool that she ever gave me.'
From the moment Renner came out of his coma, instead of feeling sorry for himself, he was already finding the positive mindset that has filled his life with determination and optimism since the accident.
He still has to deal with the after-effects of his injuries – saying every joint is an issue and he can't even bite food without risking breaking a tooth because his jaw doesn't align.
But amazingly, when asked if he would trade the post-accident Renner for the one before, he said he would not because he has found a simpler, less anxious life, and a deeper love with his family and friends.
He said: 'I'm happy where I'm at. I don't want the version prior.
'Some discomfort here and there, if 'trade that for all the gifts that I got?' I'll stay here all day long.
'I like where I'm at. I let go of all the white noise. I love that life is wonderfully simple. I don't give value to the stuff that I gave value to because it doesn't have any value.'
With his life now clearer and more straightforward, he has come to focus on the things that mean most to him and give him the greatest pleasure – with the rest, and its stresses, banished for good.
He said when he first woke up 'the first thing I thought was that my calendar was clear' - because it had previously been filled with work and other commitments for the year ahead.
He said: 'That's pretty blessed, pretty awesome. My whole life was planned out for me and I'm like 'that's all wiped clean'.
'I'm like 'Oh man, this is awesome, I can go do whatever I want now - all I've got to do is just get better'. That's how I started coming out of a coma and recovering. So happy that all that was gone.
'And then like 'no-one's going to come and yell at me because I can't go do their movie now - I think they're going to understand'. I kind of just got freed from the busy.
'I'm happier I give more time to myself. That was a really great, wonderful life shift for me too, just to really prioritise me without it being selfish.
'My life was reduced to one thing - it was just getting better. It's so much better keeping it simpler. I am not going to overcomplicate it anymore. It's so easy to get caught up in the small things and sweat in that small shit.
'I just can't be bothered.'
Renner revealed a spin-off benefit of his accident has been the incredible closeness it has forged within his family, including his mother and his sister, who had stopped speaking after a disagreement.
He said: 'My sister and my mum weren't even talking for six months. That's quickly wiped clean. Trauma like this was so uniting for my family. We all got through this scenario together.'
Sadly Renner's marriage to the mother of his daughter, Canadian model Sonni Pacheco, had ended eight years before his accident, but as well as family Renner said his actor friends, including fellow Marvel stars, rallied round him.
'My relationship with my family, those that I love, deepened even more. The same happened with my friends, like with Paul Rudd.
'He came a couple times to visit me and stay with me, and Sam Rockwell, and all the people that called.
'I spent a lot of time on the phone with people if they couldn't make it. Some flew in just to come say Hi and give me some love.'
While Renner, 54, has returned to acting work, he says he is now far more selective about offers and has turned some down he may have taken before.
He said: 'I certainly look at where it's filmed. How long do I want to be away from my home? Or if I'm away from my home, ensure that my family can be with me.'
One offer which he flatly rejected – in somewhat stronger terms than a polite no thank you - was for a return as Hawkeye for another miniseries, after being shocked to discover it involved a pay cut for longer hours.
'They asked me to do a season two, and they offered me half the money. I'm like 'I'm sorry'.
'This is not Marvel (film). This is like Disney - not even really Disney - it's just the penny pinchers, the accountants. I told them to go fly a kite - just at the insult offer.
'Why, did you think I'm only half the Jeremy because I got ran over. Maybe, is that why? That's why you want to pay me half of what I made on the first season'.'
Renner's nephew, Alexander Fries (right), was in the snowplow's path when it began hurtling towards him. Renner tried to jump back into the driver's seat to stop it, but was dragged under
But although unafraid to say no, Renner has not ruled out a comeback should a more realistic offer come along in future.
He said: 'I'd still love the character, I'd still love to do it.'
Asked if he ever suffers from any kind of anxiety or depression as a result of the trauma and injuries from his accident, he said: 'If I struggled with those it might have been before the incident. I think the snowcat maybe rolled that shit out of me. There's no room for that in my life.
'I'd have more anxiety going out in public before. Now there's an awareness of the incident and people treat me and see me as the man that I am, and not the movie star.'