Mandy Griffiths
In his fourth outing as Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner is taking sides.
“Captain America: Civil War”, a successor to “Avengers: Age of Ultron” more than a stand-alone superhero outing, sees the Avengers divided due to political interference – one side led by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jnr) surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability. And who does Hawkeye side with? Renner spoke to the press ahead of the film’s release.
Renner says Hawkeye is more about working for the man than the morals. “Clint’s belief systems on what’s right or wrong don’t play in the movie; it’s just who he has allegiance to because of his military background. Steve calls Hawkeye because he does what Cap needs. He knows that Steve wouldn’t call him if he didn’t need him. So it’s not so much about why the Avengers divide,” he says.
“It’s interesting too because that divide creates internal problems with each character because they now have to fight each other but they all are still a team. They’re all friends and have shared experiences together so there’s a lot of rub going on with having to go fight. The bad guys essentially in the movie are now each other and they are fighting each other, which is cool as heck. But they’re still fighting friends. All the fighting going on ultimately is like brothers fighting.”
Hawkeye has had a great working history with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), but Renner hints at new dynamics given the expanding Avengers team. “[Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen)] seem to be partnering up quite a bit and they’re a really good matchup. One of my most favorite things in this universe is when the characters use each other’s assets or their abilities to be even better, and I kind of do that with Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). With Scarlet Witch, it’s more my leadership and big-brother attitude that she needs more than my abilities. Her abilities are probably the most formidable on the team. I think we need each other in a lot of ways. I need her abilities for a lot of things and then she needs me to keep her head straight. She’s kind of a loose cannon; insecure and powerful and all terrifying in itself.
Speaking about working with the Russo brothers for the first time, Renner is pleased they are going to be Joss Whedon’s successors on the next (official) Avengers film. “They’re very, passionate about this universe but they’re also just cinephiles in general and they refer to a lot of different things. They’re smart and they’re a delight to work with. It really does help me to be able to spend time with them before we start jumping into “Avengers 3” together. They’ll get to know how I work and what I’m able to do and what I like to do and how I like to work. I’m very physical. I like to do all my own stunts. They’ll see my sense of humor and the riffing with on and off camera stuff. Just to create a relationship with them has really been really great. ”
Final words from Renner on who will win? “We’re on Team Cap, man. We have Cap and we have the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). We have Falcon who’s a flyer and Scarlet Witch who’s just rocking and Ant-Man and of course me, Hawkeye. We’ve got a cool, cool team.”
“Captain America: Civil War” opens in Australian cinemas April 28.
