JEREMY Renner not only nearly died in real life, but also in Mission: Impossible, or rather, his character nearly did. During the recent Happy Sad Confused podcast, Renner revealed that he was asked to reprise his role as IMF agent William Brandt in 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
However, the job offer came with one caveat: Renner’s Brandt would die in the film. Having played the character in 2011’s Ghost Protocol and 2015’s Rogue Nation, Renner refused.
“I remember they tried to bring me overseas for a week so they could kill my character, and I was like: ‘No, you don’t get to do that. You’re not going to drag me over there and just kill my character. If you’re going to do this and you’re going to use my character, you’re going to do it right.’ I yelled at the director Christopher McQuarrie,” Renner said with a laugh.
“Dude, you’re not going to do this to me like that; you’re not going to do me wrong.”
Renner also cleared the air over the pervasive rumours that he was brought into the franchise to take over the lead actor mantle from Tom Cruise and explained that it was never the plan.
“It was always Cruise’s show, that would be a Cruise decision, if he ever wanted to change that narrative,” Renner said.
Dropping out from Fallout, Renner’s Brandt has never appeared or is mentioned in the film and subsequent Mission: Impossible films. That said, the actor revealed late last month that he is still open to returning to the franchise.
