Jeremy Renner reveals why he turned down 'Hawkeye 2'

Los Angeles, May 2 (IANS) Hollywood star Jeremy Renner declined doing “Hawkeye 2” because he was offered lower pay after his fatal snow plough accident.

Renner got candid about the salary for a potential follow-up to Marvel’s Hawkeye. In an excerpt posted to TikTok from an interview that Renner gave to the High Performance app, the actor claimed he was offered “half” of his salary from the first season of the Disney+ series in which he starred as the titular character.

“They asked me to do season 2, and they offered me half the money,” the 54-year-old said, reports people.com.

“I’m like, ‘It’s going to take me twice the amount of work for half the amount of money, and eight months of my time, essentially, to do it for half the amount.’ ”

Hawkeye, starring Renner as his Avengers character Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, aired in 2021. A follow-up season has remained unconfirmed.

One reason he may have been offered less money, joked Renner in the clip, was his near-fatal snowmobile accident on New Year's Day 2023.

“I’m like, ‘I’m sorry? Why? Did you think I’m only half Jeremy because I got ran over? Maybe that’s why you want to pay me half of what I made on the first season,’” he quipped.

“I told them to go fly a kite,” added Renner of the “insult offer.”

Hinting he would “still love” to return to play Hawkeye on screen, he said, “It’s all disheartening that that didn’t happen, but that’s fine. I’m happy to let that go, because my body’s probably thanking me, time and time again, that I’m not doing it right now.”

Renner nearly got crushed to death in a driveway near his Lake Tahoe home by his 14,000-pound Snowcat plow, resulting in more than 35 broken bones, multiple titanium replacements and a grueling rehabilitation journey.

--IANS

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