Jeremy Renner has setup his own production shingle The Combine and the two time Oscar nominated actor's first order of play is an attempt to push through a biopic of
Steve McQueen into production. He has enlisted
James Gray (We Own The Night, Two Lovers) to write the screenplay with the intent of him leading. Video director
Ivan Zacharias would make his directorial debut on the untitled project. We can presume then that the amount of high paying tentpole gigs Renner has accepted lately (Mission Impossible, Ice Age 4, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and the expected Bourne series gig) are simply him working to gain the financial clout to get passion projects like this off the ground.
The Hollywood Reporter say the biopic will be heavily researched on two McQueen biographies written by
Marshall Terrill -
Portrait of an American Rebel and
The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon. 'American Rebel', 'Hollywood Icon' - these subtitles are both apt for McQueen who modern day stars like Brad Pitt, Daniel Craig and many others have long idiolised, mimicked and indeed flirted with portraying in biopics of the actor down the years. McQueen was for so long the definition of cool and defined man's man cinema of the 60's and 70's with starring roles in films like
Bullit, The Getaway and
The Great Escape. He was the highest paid actor of the mid 70's and he was hired to basically play a definition of his own image each time, where he only ever played Steve McQueen. His character names didn't particularly matter. He battled with directors, producers, co-stars but because his 'anti-hero' image was so popular, he could get away with it. Presumably the biopic will track the hell-raising youth from his physically traumatic childhood (he was dyslexic and partially deaf) where he drifted from bad situation to bad situation (street gangs, broken marriages) before being sent to the California Junior Boys Republic that changed his life - before joining the Marines and after letting his rebellious nature get the better of him - he became something of a hero and saved half a dozen lives during duty. Then came the acting, the motor-racing and a star was born; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-uNWweqbe8& Can Renner capture the coolness, the cocky but never arrogant charisma, the handsome-ness and masculinity of 'The King of Cool', McQueen? I think he can but it's sure going to be his toughest screen role to date. Perhaps he might be too intense to play McQueen and perhaps not likeable enough? Time shall tell but this one is a way's off yet as no script is complete.