Jeremy Renner will be headlining the new Bourne franchise (not as Jason Bourne, but as a 'Jason Bourne-like character') but he was neither director Tony Gilroy nor Universal Studios' first choice.
Tony Gilroy has made his name lately writing tight, morally conscious scripts that keep things understated & grounded in reality (Michael Clayton, The Bourne Ultimatum) and, according to Angie Han over at SlashFilm, he wanted to cast a lesser known actor to dig into the character, and had his eye on Animal Kingdom's Joel Edgerton.
Universal Studios, of course, wanted a big name to draw crowds, and apparently were gunning for Tron: Legacy's Garrett Hedlund, Dominic Cooper or Luke Evans, but according to IMDB.com, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Michael Fassbender, Josh Hartnett, Paul Dano (really?), Michael Pitt, Friday Night Lights' Taylor Kitsch & Alex 'I am Number Four' Pettyfer were all considered for the part.
Kudo's to Renner for getting it, then, regardless of whose choice he was. With this, The Avengers & Mission - Impossible: Ghost Protocol coming up on his resume, his career will certainly never be the same again.
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