Jeremy Renner will sit down with Diane Sawyer for his first television interview since the critical snow plow accident that nearly cost him his life. The ABC News special, titled “Jeremy Renner: TheDianeSawyerInterview – A Story of Terror, Survival and Triumph,” will air in April ahead of the world premiere of Renner’s new Disney+ series “Rennervations,” which will serve as the actor’s first public press appearance since the accident.
“All of it,” Renner tells Sawyer when asked how much of the pain he remembers. “I was awake through every moment.”
Renner was hospitalized for blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries at the start of January after his Sno-Cat, a large snow plow that weighs at least 14,330 pounds, ran him over. The actor was trying to help his nephew out of the snow near his home in Lake Tahoe when the Sno-Cat crushed him.
“I see him in a pool of blood coming from his head,” Renner’s nephew tells Sawyer in the ABC News special. “I ran up to him. I didn’t think he was alive.”
A teaser for the Renner interview includes the shocking 911 call made to save Renner’s life (the actor is heard moaning in pain as people tell him to “keep fighting), as well Sawyer reading off a long list of Renner’s injuries, which include “eight ribs broken in 14 places. Right knee, right ankle broken, left leg tibia broken, left ankle broken, right clavicle broken, right shoulder broken. Face, eye socket, jaw, mandible broken. Lung collapsed. Pierced from the rib bone, your liver — which sounds terrifying.”
“What’s my body going to look like?” Renner remembers thinking about all of his injuries. “Am I just going to be a spine and a brain, like a science experiment?”
The actor remains stoic during the interview clip but briefly tears up when Sawyer says, “I heard that you had, in sign language, you said to your family, ‘I’m sorry.'”
“I chose to survive. That’s not gonna kill me, no way,” he says. “I’ve lost a lot of flesh and bone in this experience, but I’ve been refueled and refilled with love and titanium.” The teaser features footage of Renner’s physical therapy, including him using a knee scooter to move around.
“When you look in the mirror, do you see a new face?” Sawyer asks, to which Renner replies, “No, I see a lucky man.”
A few days after the interview airs, Rennerwill appear in person at the “Rennervations” world premiere, taking place April 11 at Los Angeles’ Regency Village Theater. The actor will participate in a Q&A after a screening. All four episodes of “Rennervations,” the actor’s new vehicle renovation show, begin streaming April 12 on Disney+.
Since the January accident, Renner has used social media to keep his fans updated through his physical therapy. Just recently, the “Hawkeye” actor posted a video in which he appeared walking for the first time with the assistance of an anti-gravity treadmill. The actor captioned the post: “Now is the time for my body to rest and recover from my will.”
“Jeremy Renner: TheDianeSawyerInterview – A Story of Terror, Survival and Triumph” is set to air April 6 on ABC. The special will also be available to stream on Hulu.
