Jeremy Renner Quotes

I love the idea of going to work and having to fight and learn a new skill set, whether it's muay Thai or Kali or Filipino stick fighting. To me, it's like college for life.

I think cinema should provoke thoughts, sure, but using it as I soapbox I think is the wrong place.

People find themselves in ruts all the time. You're in a complacent lifestyle where you work 9 to 5 and then you add a mortgage and kids. You feel trapped, but guess what, brother? You constructed that life. If you're OK with it, there's nothing wrong with that. But if you've got unease, then you've got to make a change.

The movie business is very difficult but the music business is just impossible. So I'll play in bands and record and play songs with other people, but for me it's a form of expression that all I need is me. I don't need cameras or agents, I can just have a piano and sing and feel totally verified.

I like to stay busy, I like to stay focused, and I like to stay creative. Without being creative I'd be dead.

Not every actor gives their life to do this job. Some just do it as a job. Well, it's my life.

I have a bad sweet tooth. I'm pretty good when I have to eat well for work, but otherwise, I could eat a whole roll of raw cookie dough.

I used to hang out at karaoke bars all the time. It was the most fun you could have when you had no money.

I do music because I can just pick up my guitar and sing, and completely satisfy, instant gratification. I don't need a script, I don't people, I don't need anything, cameras, I just have myself and my guitar, or keyboard.

I'm not very good at taking compliments. It's better than getting slapped in the face, I suppose.

The most experience I had in the criminology field is playing a thug as an actor. That was my first paid job. The police academy at the college was paying people to reenact the calls that potential cops would get. So I got to play thugs and people who were unruly.

In the 'Hurt Locker' there's a lot of me in there, a sense of humor, a man of few words and a lot of action.

I want to be a good human being.

I like to play unpredictable characters, and I like to be unpredictable in what movie I'll do. I want to skip to work. I don't want to repeat anything. What the future holds, I don't know, but that's what I like. I'll take any risk there is.

I lived by the candlelight for two years because I couldn't afford power. It was nice and romantic at the time, but if you can't afford power you're pretty broke. You endure it.

Our friendship [ with Don Handfield] has remained all that time, and I'm godfather to his kids, but then when The Hurt Locker came around, I just knew there was a lot of opportunity that was coming in, and just couldn't really manifest any opportunities because things were busy.

I don't change. The things around me change.

I'm consciously aware, specifically with the comic book world, where there's a built-in fanbase. But, there's a little bit of leniency because there are a couple different universes.

Grab love of life every day. Because we're all gonna die. It's difficult to live that way. Most people are afraid to. Or can't. I find it very difficult.

I'm a simple, simple man.

I don't do well with expectation in my life. All I can do is do the best that I can do.

I feel connected to that idea of wanting to belong to something, to have a sense of purpose as a man on the planet.

I want my personal life to be personal... And I don't care if you're talking about things that are true, you're still talking about my personal life.

I live my life through fear. If I'm afraid of it I'll do it just so I'm not afraid of it anymore.

Accents can be a great tool to tell a story - but if you do it wrong, it pulls you right out of the movie.

So I take a little sleeping pill, pop it and realize nothing's happening - but something else was happening.

What matters to me is learning and growing, and getting to do what I love to do. As long as I can do that, I'm happy.

When I was growing up, I wasn't taught how to feel or communicate feelings.

I'll take any risk there is.

Aren't we taught as kids that we're beautiful because we feel beautiful and not because someone else says so? You don't look like the model on the magazine cover but you can still be beautiful, so I can't say I really want to change anything. I'm happy with the flaws I have.

I light candles because I want to have candles lit, not because I need to see!

I know it's a cliche but I never wanted to be famous. I don't believe anybody wants to be famous.

There is nothing new, from Greek mythology to Shakespeare to every romcom ever made, we're just reimagining the same 12 story plots over and over again - so what makes people keep watching and listening? It's all about the character.

I think it's great to be a part of a franchise that is successful. Any franchise is successful because it's a continuation and people have seen it.

People love to yammer on about things that aren't real.

There's too much down time making movies. That leads to boredom. And that leads to trouble.

Building a house is like producing a movie. There's no right way to do it but a lot of wrong ways. You have to be flexible and creative. You have to move fast, be prepared - or it quickly becomes costly.

My philosophy on what makeup is...it's very different from what a woman's is. Makeup came from a very psychological place - of the peacock.

I like to play unpredictable characters, and I like to be unpredictable in what movie I'll do.

We kept moving forward, kept pretty particular about certain things. Don Handfield is really great with story, so we kept working on it from that angle and developed a lot of IP over the years, which we became very proud of.

When you get praise from someone that you really admire it's really surreal.

I had to do a lot of work and allow myself to go places that were a little scary. You know when you play a guy like that it allows you the freedom to explore really weird parts about you. And it's OK. In order to really get it, I've got to allow myself to go there.

Why I'm so stimulated by [producing] is it becomes more proactive. Instead of waiting around for a script to come in, or some movie trying to go. You're waiting around always for that opportunity, which is great, but I like to be a little bit more proactive. I'm a very action-oriented guy - I'm a doer. The company really became this spearhead for that sort of attitude, and so that, to me, was the most exciting part of it.

I don't want to play a bad guy who doesn't have a bit of good in him.

There is a greater a sense of pride - like when we did Kill the Messenger - and that was probably one of my more fun experiences on a movie set. Having everyone there on the same team, it just feels really great.

I think that'll always be there for [Clint] Barton, right? You have real life, and then you have fight life. And that's the character that I love now - discovering that in him makes him a very sort of accessible Avenger. That'll always be there, I'm sure. And it certainly plays in this one.

And I don't care if you're talking about things that are true, you're still talking about my personal life. How about I go peek in your window, take what underwear you wore last night, whose husband you were fucking, and shove that in the megaphone throughout your neighborhood? How does that feel? It's none of your goddamn business.

I was an athlete when I was growing up.

Architecture and building is about how you get around the obstacles that are presented to you. That sometimes determines how successful you'll be: How good are you at going around obstacles?

We want to have movies be seen. So, first and foremost, what's the world? So we can get it onto a big screen.