The tongue-in-cheek fairy-tale action film starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, has been pushed back to come on the heels of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’s flop at the box office (even though it’s awesome), which I can’t imagine will help this film’s chances. Then again, it has Jeremy Renner in it playing with Van Helsing’s guns, Gemma Arterton in a leather catsuit, and witches getting their heads chopped off. If you expect more than that from a film, brother, this is where we part ways.

 ”At the end of the day, 90% of the movie, I’m not the character I signed on to play. I’m literally in there for two minutes, and then all of a sudden…So there’s not a lot of back story or understanding we can really tell about who Clint Barton is, or Hawkeye, and is he working for SHIELD or not. There’s a lot of unanswered questions, even for me. And I was OK with that. At least I was still in the movie. And I was glad for that…”

“I prefer [playing] the good, because if we go to the evil part, or hypnotized or whatever the heck you want to call it, it’s kind of a vacancy. Not even a bad guy, because there’s not really a consciousness to him. The interesting part was being guilty about the bad things I did do when I was hypnotized. I think he’s already an interesting enough character. To really kind of take away who that character is and just have him be this sort of robot, essentially, and have him be this minion for evil that Loki uses,” he explained. “Again, I could just focus on the task. I was limited, you know what I mean? I was a terminator in a way. So yeah, fun stunts. But is there any sort of emotional content or thought process? No. That doesn’t exist in that time [that he's hypnotized]. It happens to be for most of the movie.”

“You know, there are a lot of people in that movie. And a lot of important characters. And my character, I felt like if I can help serve the story, then I did my job.”

I have to agree with Renner here, who actually did a pretty good job with what he was given. I blame the audience. Kids today just aren’t as interested in following the exploits of an aerodynamics genius as much as they used to be. It’s sad, really.

Points to the casting agent who noticed the similarities. Both Jeremy Renner and Julian Assange enjoy faces that could be described as “squishy,” so the other considerations are rendered moot by this squishiness.

It’s been over a year since we were hit with a deluge of Wikileaks-based projects, none of which have come to fruition, leaving us to wonder if anyone, anywhere even cares about Wikileaks anymore.

The scandal of Julian Assange, the Internet rebel who some claimed created international transparency, and others claimed performed thousands of acts of treason, has since died down, but that could just mean we’re no longer sick of the story, so maybe we’re ready for a movie.

Glass is half-full, right?

Apparently the turn is Renner’s idea, who presumably wants to play a different type of wanted man after The Bourne Legacy.

David O. Russell has been bouncing around projects like some sort of item that bounces a lot recently, but has apparently landed on this film in which Renner would play a con man who becomes the target of an FBI sting.

This is exciting for two reasons:

1. It affords a remarkable synergy between actor Jeremy Renner and director David Russell, whose stock is trading at an all-time high after the widely acclaimed The Fighter.

2. More importantly, it allows me to totally put a contextual swear word in the headline of this article with devil-may-care abandon.

Life is good, folks. Life is good.

Jeremy Renner – Senior Trip

Before he threw himself into mortal danger in The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner was an actor looking for his big break. It certainly didn’t come when he booked his first role as Mark “Dags” D’Agastino in National Lampoon’s Senior Trip. The floppy-haired, study-hatin’ rad party dude traveled to Washington with the rest of his class after writing a letter to the President about how much school sucks. Apparently the President agreed 100% and invited them as his honored guests to discuss how to make class lessons as awesome as beer is.

This was the Clinton administration we’re talking about here.

Scarlett Johansson – My Brother the Pig

She’s an international star nowadays regarded for her beauty and poise, but Scarlett Johansson was once much like every other girl. She had to worry about school and popularity and not getting grounded after accidentally turning her brother into a pig.

And shame on you, Eva Mendes. You were old enough to know better.

“He’s Treadstone without the inconsistency.”

“He’s an Outcome agent.”

“We’ve never seen evaluations like this.”

Thanks, trailer, but that doesn’t really answer my question.

This preview of the fourth Bourne film, the first without star Matt Damon, shows us Jeremy Renner getting indoctrinated as an agent, under the tutelage and supervision of the added Edward Norton, but it’s unclear from this clip exactly what the connection is between him, Treadstone, and Jason Bourne.

Oh well. I’m sure it will be explained, as Bourne has proven pretty methodical with its plodding.

On the other hand, he jumps on a tree in the snow, and that’s pretty darn neat.

Renner was grabbing a late-night (early morning, actually) drink in Thailand with his local guide, when the guide and some bar employees got into a fight about something or other. The guide dropped a glass on the floor when the six employees fell upon him, stabbing him in the stomach repeatedly because, hey, glass is a bitch to clean up. They then severed the guide’s neck tendons with a homemade axe (because where’s the beauty or charm in a store-bought one?).

Umm…AWESOME?

The original report said Renner suffered some minor injuries, but now it’s being reported that he booked it from the bar right when the shit went down.

If he was wearing his Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters outfit, I’m going to overdose on cool.

Jeremy Renner also stars as an agent that nobody is sure they can trust. It’s been said that he’s being groomed to take over the series from Cruise. He even does Tom Cruise‘s famous hover just inches above the floor move. The kid’s got potential.

So what do you think? Should the X-Men be suing for likeness rights here?

The Avengers, which is a glorious, glorious amalgam of Marvel superheroes, hits theaters on May 4 of next year. It will star Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Clark Gregg, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Hemsworth. Evildoers best watch their asses. I’ve had Robert Downey Jr. mad at me and it’s NOT pleasant.

More Avengers news as the week and weekend progress, I’m sure.

The Bourne Legacy may not have scored a villain as creepy as Chris Cooper, but got one that’s plenty nerdy in Edward Norton. Norton is expected to go up against Jeremy Renner’s hero in the first Bourne-less installment of the Bourne franchise. The two will also be joining Rachel Weisz in the project.

Details on the project have been locked down pretty tightly, so it’s not known what kind of vilain Norton will be, but it’s a safe assumption that he won’t be the kind of villain that goes around beating people up. Though Norton has been seemingly M.I.A. the past few years, he’s got a nice track record of villainy with Primal Fear, Death to Smoochie, The Score, and American History X.

That said, he’s currently playing some sort of scoutmaster in Wes Anderson‘s Moonrise Kingdom, so maybe a refresher wouldn’t kill him. (Variety)

Anyway, as Brad Bird knows,the best way to restore a reputation these days is to kick lots of people in the chest. So by the looks of this trailer, the IMF team should be back in high regard in no time at all.

“[T]he picture will be based on the true story of racer Bill Caswell, an unemployed racing freak who famously bought a $500 jalopy off Craigslist and used it to beat $400,000-plus rally cars in the Mexican leg of the World Rally Championships.”

6 photosJes Macallan

“There’s no definitive plans, but we have started talking and talking with Scarlett about what a Widow movie could be,” he said. “Internally we’ve also started thinking what a ‘Hawkeye’ movie could be, how we could continue to explore the organization [which Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury leads] S.H.I.E.L.D, which has a pretty big part in Thor, smaller parts in the two Iron Man films and has a giant part in The Avengers. [So it’s like], what would a stand-alone S.H.I.E.L.D. be like? It all goes back to the comics. Sometimes the answer is—when looking at a certain run of issues— ‘no way’ and sometimes the answer is ‘maybe, let’s continue to explore it’ and certainly with Hawkeye and Black Widow those are two that we’re exploring.”

Feige noted that Marvel will announce its next batch of films closer to the end of summer, so for right now it’s a matter of wait and see. Only one thing is certain. If these films do go through, Stan Lee is going to be exhausted from all of his cameo duties. Let’s keep an eye on his blood sugar.

First up once Renner clear his plate is a Steve McQueen biopic that Renner would produce and star in. It will be written by James Gray and will be based off two separate biographies of the action star, which are curiously both written by the same writer, Marshall Terrill. Between you and me, I think Mr. Terrill might be harboring something of a man-crush on the deceased icon.

The proposed director is Ivan Zacharias, whose experience thus far has been limited to the realms of music videos and commercials. No word on a timeline, but it might be a minute or two considering what Renner’s got in the pipeline.

So far this all sounds pretty cool. With Renner’s choices so far, I’m willing to wait for a misstep before I get cynical. Until then: go get ‘em, tiger. (THR)

Fox’s $2 billion dollar grossing Ice Age series is coming out with a fourth installment, Continental Drift, a “high seas” adventure. More returning cast members that have been thawed out include Denis Leary, Josh Peck, Seann William Scott and John Leguizamo.

New warm-blooded additions to the cast include Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Keke Palmer, Drake and Aziz Ansari. Though I admit Ansari will probably be a great voice actor, I will not pay $38 to see another Ice Age movie in 3D. I’d rather just watch”Parks and Recreation” with my eyes closed and pretend his character’s a squirrel or something.

Continental Drift lazily drifts into theaters July 13, 2012. (Hollywood Reporter)

Renner (The Town, The Hurt Locker) will play a character who’s not Jason Bourne in the forth film, which is titled Bourne Legacy. I wonder if further sequels will also have to wedge “Bourne” in the name for continuity purposes, like Bourne’s Shadow, The Bourne Similarity, and Basically Bourne, You Guys. Interestingly, Renner also plays a spy in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, so that begs the question: which studio is Renner really working for? He can’t work both sides for much longer… (Deadline)

According to Evans, there are four actors in contention for Not Jason Bourne — Joel Edgerton, Dominic Cooper, Garrett Hedlund, and Evans.

“I’ve met the director, he’s fantastic. The script that I’ve been given, I’ve not been allowed to read the whole script, no one’s allowed to read the whole script, but the script that I’ve been given is great. It’s so well done. It just rolls off the tongue. It’s just nice to be in good company, there’s four of us left.”

So what does this mean for Renner? Did he take Gilroy’s offer, throw it to the ground and elbow drop on it while screaming no? It’s likely that exact scenario is exactly what happened. Or, it would be if I were an actor. Not enough projects are passed on via elbow drop. (via The Playlist)

Again, this is just an offer, so it’s not known whether Renner will take the role should this story pan out, but it clearly demonstrates that the producers don’t want to venture too far from what made the first three installments work, which is fine by me. Here’s to hoping this pans out and the next Bourne hero isn’t Alex Pettyfer.

Jeremy Renner and Gemma Atherton are rocking some leather witch-huntin’ garb all right, looking almost like they wandered off the set of a Matrix sequel for a smok break.

Here’s a picture of Renner and his teamster doppelganger showing off their profiles:

Gemma Atherton looks hotly approachable while the ghost of Rutherford B. Hayes haunts her right shoulder.

Mr. Renner sees your clandestine attempt to photograph him and does NOT find it amusing.

Seriously. It’s NOT funny. Stop it.

The tuxedo didn’t help him keep his cool.

She’ll join Famke Janssen, who was previously cast as the leader of the witches, and Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the titular heroes. I’m not certain where the reader got this info and nothing official has been reported as of yet, so keep that in mind before you start telling strangers on the street that there’s a person named Ingrid Bolsø Berdal and she’ll be playing a witch in a film. You really want to make sure you have your facts straight before you start approaching strangers. Otherwise, you’ll just look silly in your bathrobe.

“15 years after their narrow fairy tale escape from the gingerbread house, become specialized bounty-hunters looking to take down the witches that almost killed them.”

Well, that sounds like… something. It seems like it’s a decent pitch that will be made or broken by the execution. If it’s a gritty, dark affair with glints of humor, it could probably work nicely, as Renner is pretty compelling when he’s blowing things up (The Hurt Locker). If it’s a silly, goofy retelling with fart jokes and CGI monsters, it’s probably going to be less thrilling. The $60 million film will be shot in 3D, and it opens March 2, 2012. (Deadline)

“[A] pharmacist (Renner) who begins a prescription drug-fueled affair with a trophy wife (Garner) that leads to the two plotting to kill her husband.”

That sounds pretty cool, actually. The movie is to be written and directed by David Posamentier and Geoff Moore, probably during a 4-month prescription drug binge. I hope there’s Cialis involved! (The Playlist)

The film follows Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner as adult-versions of Hansel and Gretel. With their gingerbread house nightmare behind them, they’ve now dedicated their lives to the hunting down and destruction of witches.

This casting works for me. I could watch Famke all day long. And I still would be if that judge hadn’t stepped in with his stupid robe and gavel and blah, blah, court-ordered something or other. (Playlist)

Arterton beat out Diane Kruger, Eva Green, and Noomi Rapace, who were all gunning for the role. Shooting will ideally begin March 7 in Berlin, if Renner can manage the schedule. He’s much in demand now after convincingly disarming IEDs in The Hurt Locker and dropping his R’s in The Town. Next up are The Avengers and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, then he’ll avoid stepping into ovens with Arterton. (THR)

Seriously, did the studio learn nothing from Iron Man 2? That movie felt like one long trailer for The Avengers, and I don’t blame Jon Favreau as it’s well known that he hated the cameos too. One or two cameos in Thor would be acceptable, but let’s not have characters tripping over Captain America‘s shield or stepping on Bruce Banner’s toe. Along with the Renner news, The Wrap is also reporting that Nick Fury will NOT appear in Thor. I’ll believe it after the end credits are finished rolling. Sam Jackson always finds a way to sneak in.

The official title of Mission: Impossible 4 is Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and no, Tom Clancy‘s name does not preceed that. Stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and director Brad Bird announced the news at a press conference in Dubai. They also said they’ll be doing a lot of filming in Dubai, including on the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa. Said Tom Cruise, "I’ll be spending many days, many hours on the side of this building, I can’t give you details, but I will be up there." Not sure if his being up there has to do with the movie, or that he heard Katie was on the ground looking for him. (Collider)

Josh Holloway, best known for playing con man and quip spouter Sawyer on "Lost," has chosen to accept Mission: Impossible 4 as his next project. He’ll suit up with a cast that already includes Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Ving Rhames, and Simon Pegg. No details on who he’ll play or what he’ll do or how the movie will include a plot. I do know the when. It’s shooting in the fall for a December 2011 release.

Mission: Impossible 4 will be directed by Brad Bird, the guy who makes terrific animated movies. It’s the first studio film for Holloway and the first live action studio film for Bird. Talk about the odd men out. If some teasing and serious intimidation on Tom Cruise’s part doesn’t cause rifts in production someone isn’t taking full advantage of their elite Hollywood status. Give the rookies purple nurples while you still can, veterans! (THR)

_{Look what you’re doing to Paul!!!}

Jeremy Renner just gave us all one ticket to Bummersville. The actor recently revealed to Total Film that The Master has come to a grinding halt:

"I was really bummer about that," Renner revealed. "It really kind of stalled because when we were rehearsing – Phil, Paul and myself – we kept coming up against a wall that we couldn’t overcome. Or at least Paul couldn’t.

I’m sure he didn’t mean for that to sound like a burn, but what a buuuuuuuurn. Jeremy could overcome it, Paul? Why the hell couldn’t you?

At the press junket for Jack Goes Boating, Philip Seymour Hoffman also confirmed that the project is currently whack:

"I don’t have any new information ‘The Master‘]. I really mean that, I’m not being obstuse. I don’t quite know what that is at the moment, but hopefully I will and hopefully I’ll be part of something soon. It would be great to work with him again."

I was really looking forward to Anderson’s take on The Cause — his made up word for Scientology — and Hoffman portraying a version of L. Ron Hubbard, the author of the classic novel Battlefield Earth. Everyone keep your fingers crossed so tightly that they bleed. It’s the only way this project may get back on track. (ThePlaylist)