By Terese Schlachter
The Pentagon Channel
Normally, I could care less what celebrities have to say. If an actor has done his job, we got the message when we watched the film, right? Why hear more about his or her feelings about the movie, the making, the “chemistry”, on-set romances, saving trees, or the “next project”. It was hot… the bomb suit was heavy…she was hot…please recycle… I don’t want to be type-cast….blah…blah….blah.
That’s what I figured the evening I went to the screening of “The Hurt Locker”.
Problem was, we were sort of trapped. My friend and I were seated squarely in the middle of the packed theater. By the time I got my fingernails out of his arm (the movie is a little intense), and the credits rolled, it was impossible to make a graceful exit. So there we sat as Jeremy Renner, the star of the movie, took the stage for a follow up discussion. He was dressed all in black.
He had spoken before the movie, briefly, along with the screening host, Bonnie Carroll, founder of TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. Renner had said he was nervous, which at first seemed odd coming from a guy who was playing a sort of rock-star role, where he runs around a war zone dismantling bombs. The other movie you might recognize him from is the title role in “Dahmer”. Now there’s a head to get into.
So, why the butterflies? Jeremy Renner was essentially facing a truth squad. The audience was elbow to elbow with real, live EOD veterans and technicians. And he cared very much about getting it right.
The sound of the applause relaxed him a bit. When asked what sort of research he did for his role, it was clear the question was out of curiosity, rather than contempt. He answered – he’d spent time at Fort Irwin with EOD experts – but it took a minute for Renner to gather his thoughts. The cannibal-turned-bomb-dude was choked up.
From there, he went on, emotionally, not about recycling or war or even “chemistry”, but about how he hoped he’d done something to cast some light on a number of anonymous heroes. He talked about how Jordan’s heat was not Iraq’s heat, nor was he dealing with real explosives. Still, he said, he felt he got a “sliver” of what it’s really like to be part of an E.O.D. team. The audience agreed.
He talked too, about getting back to life in America, after shooting in the Middle East. But it wasn’t about the local customs or even patriotism. It was about the surreal nature of where he’d been, compared to where he was now. He talked about just staring at the walls for several weeks, and about how his girlfriend told him his eyes looked “dead”. That made him mad. He was an actor after all, and it was just a movie.
But it wasn’t. For Renner, it was a lesson about the military. About dedication in the face of death, and about what happens when those soldiers come home. He’d had his own bit of PTSD, and he hadn’t even seen real combat. He’d acted it.
He and Director Kathryn Bigelow, Writer/Producer Mark Boal, and co-stars Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty managed to deliver, with a few artful inaccuracies (EOD teams would never travel in a single vehicle, for example) a film that captures the spirit, humor, courage and endurance of the dozens of ordnance teams deployed in these current wars. And they do it in a way that makes you lean forward throughout. As one audience member called out to Renner, “You got it”.
And it’s funny because now I want to know what Jeremy Renner’s next project might be- where I might see him next, but I have no idea. That’s because he never talked about it.
