The movie that defined Jeremy Renner’s childhood: “It’s really, really cinematic”
It’s always interesting to find out an actor’s favourite films, especially when it comes to the movie that stuck with them from childhood. So often, these experiences can inspire us right through adulthood, especially for those in the film business.
For an actor like Jeremy Renner, known mostly for his action roles, you’d expect a list filled with more from the genre, and, while it’s definitely in there, there are some interesting standouts.
Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes, he listed his five favourite films, and, for an actor, they’re uncommonly pedestrian. There’s ET and The Shawshank Redemption, which I think we can all agree are on pretty much every middle-aged dad’s list. Not to say these aren’t great films, they’re classics after all, but it’s charming how unpretentious these choices are. He even includes Braveheart, which, again, is sweet and very dadcore—except for his claim that he’d just love to live in that time. Really, Jeremy? It’s literally about a rebellion against colonialism. But sure, you’d love “the simplicity of that world”.
The only somewhat highbrow and ‘pretentious’ choice in his bunch in A Clockwork Orange, but can I really call a classic from Stanley Kubrick pretentious? And you do need to have something with a little bit of edge in there if you’re an actor. So, it tracks. Then, there’s the pick that defined his childhood, and it is very sweet.
Everyone has at least one Disney film that was a big part of their youth. So many of them capture the magic and wonder of what it means to be a kid, and frequently, they stand the test of time, allowing us to revisit for nostalgia as an adult without cringing.
For Renner, it was The Jungle Book with its great soundtrack and “strong characters”. But it was also tied in with memories of his dad, “The memory of, you know, dancing around with my dad, goofing around, he was pretending to be Baloo and I was pretending to be Mowgli. And it was awesome, man. It’s really, really cinematic and a big part of my childhood and now my big adult childhood.” Clearly, he’s just a big kid at heart.
But he’s not wrong when it comes to the film’s cinematic appeal. At the time, it was widely praised by animators to be one of the best animations of all time, and it went on to influence many of Disney’s subsequent animations. The dance scene between Balloo and King Louie was even rotocopied for a scene in Robin Hood. Many animators even cite it as the reason for joining the business. All in all, at this point, it holds up better visually than many films shot on early digital cameras.
Although the film, as well as Kipling’s original book, continues to be mired in controversy due to its racist implications. Disney+ has even removed the film from children’s profiles, and it’s now labelled with their ‘culturally outdated’ disclaimer. While it’s a fun romp, the music slaps and the characters are well written and voiced, it’s hard to deny its problems when Kipling was quite literally an Imperialist, making those iffy archetypes even more difficult to ignore. But I won’t blame Jeremy for loving something he grew up with and that, to a child, seems like just a fun romp through the jungle.
