Jeremy Renner spoke to the L.A. Times about returning to the “Mayor of Kingstown” set after his near-fatal snow plow accident.
In January 2023, Renner was run over by his own snowcat, which weighs at least 14,330 pounds, and suffered from significant chest trauma — including a collapsed lung — and 38 broken bones.
In the Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown,” Renner stars as Mike McLusky, a power broker in a fictional Michigan city, where the business is incarceration. He returned to set this January, one year after his accident.
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Renner told the L.A. Times that during his first week back on the job, he would sometimes fall asleep while filming a scene: “They go, ‘And action!’ And I was out. We realized they worked me too hard, too many hours, too many days in a row,” he said. “What I’m willing to do is everything, but what I’m able to do is a different thing.”
He said producers accommodated him by modifying filming schedules, because jet lag is now exceedingly hard on his body. Instead of flying back and forth to California, Renner stayed in Pittsburgh throughout most of the four-month shooting process.
“They have to treat me like I’m a child actor,” Renner joked. “The mayor of Kingstown is now like a 14-year-old.”
One of the actor’s eyes bulged out of his skull as a result of his snow plow accident. But, according to Renner, the accident had a few unexpected benefits. He said that he now has a photographic memory, which is useful when memorizing dialogue.
“The eyeball that came out of my head? I have better vision in that eye than the other eye,” Renner said. “I think I’m getting bionic.”
“Mayor of Kingstown” Season 3 is set to release June 2 on Paramount+.
