Jeremy Renner "cried [his] eyes out" when he first saw ‘Arrival’.
The Hollywood actor plays mathematician Ian Donnelly in the sci-fi drama – which is based on Ted Chiang’s short story ‘Story of Your Life’ – and he was amazed how director Denis Villeneuve had managed to bring the script to life, admitting he was delighted to be a part of the project.
He said: "When I saw the movie for the first time, it wasn’t done; the sound wasn’t done, the visual effects weren’t done. You saw the aliens once or twice. It was really kinda rough. But you got a sense of the scope.
"I got up, I went out of the theatre, I burst out, ‘That’s a m***********g director,’ quote-unquote. I never said that.
"I went, ‘Holy f**k!" I ran out, fell in the f**king parking lot and cried my eyes out. I said, ‘I can’t believe I’m a part of this. I cannot believe what that guy did with this beautiful script.’
"He’d made it so damn visual … this guy just exceeded everyone’s expectations.
"We were all so focused on this insular little story called ‘Story Of Your Life’, told through this amazing smart woman’s eyes."
The motion picture sees Amy Adams play the lead character, linguist Dr. Louise Banks, who is tasked with working out what aliens are saying after several touch down across the world leaving mankind fearing they are on the brink of a war with the extraterrestrials.
While Renner is delighted he landed the role of Donnelly, he thought the part should’ve been offered to Richard Dreyfuss, so much so he told the movie’s bosses to cast the ‘Jaws’ actor.
He added to Den of Geek: "My initial reaction was, I thought Richard Dreyfuss should be in this thing. I said, ‘Don’t cast me, get Richard Dreyfuss in this thing! I mean, he’s perfect. Why me?’
"So I saw [Ian] as Dreyfuss in ‘Jaws’ – that was my initial way in. He was like, ‘I love sharks! I love the f**k out of sharks!’ Whereas most other people are running from them.
"So I used that as an idea – his passion towards something. But also, ‘Let’s give him a sense of humour.’
"Let’s give him … whatever my sense of humour is. Just kind of inject it in there, like, not taking things too seriously. Whatever it is, right?
"That made him a bit more accessible and not some book-y, hyper-intelligent, socially awkward … you know what I mean?"
Jeremy Renner’s Arrival tears
