Jeremy Renner: “Finding the humanity in a villain and the flaws in a hero is Drama 101″

“As an actor, you just want to be challenged,” Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner recently shared in an interview with Stltoday, and that’s exactly what the actor is in for. 

The forty year old Renner, a California native, has been busy working on several soon to be box office hits.  Renner will not only show up in the Brad Bird’s Dec. 21st release Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol as Brandt, but the next installment of  Bourne, due out on Aug. 3rd of 2012, as well as the May 2012′s Avengers as Hawkeye.

Options like this hasn’t always been the “norm” for the performer, who also gained notoriety for his work in Ben Affleck‘s The Town last year.  As he explains in his Q&A with the news outlet, his work as the titular character in 2002′s Dahmer seemed to have scared off many movie heads, until he caught the eye of The Hurt Locker’s Kathryn Bigelow, nabbing the lead.  “She had to convince the producers that the same guy who played Jeffrey Dahmer could be a war hero.  But she thought I was someone who could add dimensions to the character without judging him. Finding the humanity in a villain and the flaws in a hero is Drama 101.” 

Currently tackling a full slate of franchises, that could lead to future reprisals, Renner says he’s also bracing himself for the exciting ride.   “It’s surreal that a dude from a small town is traveling in these circles, but I don’t take anything for granted.  Just like in ‘Ghost Protocol,’ you could have all sorts of experts and money at your disposal, but then you get hit by a sandstorm and you find yourself lost. It’s like the Boy Scouts say — travel light and be prepared for anything.”