Jason Mantzoukas loved seeing Jeremy Renner playing the gangster villain in ‘The House’.
The 44-year-old actor currently stars alongside Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler in the new Andrew Jay Cohen gangster-comedy as the loveable gambling and sex addict Frank and said Renner is a "charming villain".
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, the actor said: "I love it. I thought it was great. I have seen Renner in ‘Hurt Locker’ and the ‘Bourne’ movie he did. He’s done a great range of movies and he came really ready to go and bounced off everyone.
"He came in really just for those scenes. We had already done tremendous amounts of filming and he turned up and immediately was amazing. We were like, ‘Holy cow this is great. What a great charming villain he is.’"
The film follows Ferrell and Poehler as Scott and Kate, who struggle to find the money to pay for their daughter’s tuition fees. But with the help from their friend Frank, the three start their own casino to try and get the money they need.
Although a comedy, the film takes an unexpected turn and can be seen to be reminiscent of a Martin Scorsese gangster movie when the three protagonists fall into the realm of mobster leaders as their casino gets bigger and bigger.
Mantzoukas said: "It was so fun. All those kind of stylistic choices make it feel like a big Scorsese movie. It goes from rinky dink to these much bigger camera moves. It does feel like a gangster movie.
"To have scenes with the finger chopping off and the Renner stuff, it really does raise the stakes and just visually gives different levels of what this film could do."
Jason Mantzoukas loves Jeremy Renner as a villain
