2023 did not start off well for Jeremy Renner, to put it mildly. On January 1, the Hawkeye actor was run over by a snowplow in an effort to stop his nephew from being hit by the machinery. This resulted in him suffering a number of severe injuries, including over 30 bones being broken and even his eye popping out, and undergoing multiple surgeries. Fortunately, Renner has slowly been healing in the subsequent months, though it’s by no means an easy process, especially with the actor’s trainer describing the “excruciating” pain he continues to experience from those injuries.
Christopher Vincent has been working with Renner on and off since 2011 (the year he debuted as William Brandt in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), and now he’s part of the team that’s helping the actor with his recovery “in all ways.” Still, while Renner has been well enough in recent weeks to give his first interview since the accident, go to Six Flags and attend the red carpet premiere of his Disney+ series Rennervations, it’s still a challenge getting through everyday life with all that pain. As Vincent explained to People:
I mean, it's bad enough with one of those traumas. The fracture through his tibia was so severe that that alone ... mentally you can't deal with that much pain. When you've got 30 of those, your body is just sending pain signals to your brain from every part of your body. You can't override them. You're mentally just trying to quiet them down. It's happening 24 hours a day, so it's not like he gets a reprieve when he's sleeping. It doesn't sleep, so it's affecting your sleep, and that lack of sleep is affecting your recovery.
Christopher Vincent added that he and the other professionals involved with helping Jeremy Renner recover have implemented things like an anti-inflammatory diet and supplements that help reduce inflammation and the “pain signals getting to his brain.” At the beginning of the recovery though, Renner was “meditating and just trying to calm himself to override this,” while Vincent called in favors to get the actor equipment, including an antigravity treadmill, to set up in his home and turn into a “full rehab center.” The trainer also mentioned that the last several weeks have seen Renner using an exercise bike, as well as the Boost Treadmill (which was developed by a NASA scientist) as a way to walk without putting all his weight on his limbs.
This work has paid off, as Renner is now able to walk out in the world with a cane. Needless to say there’s still a ways to go in the recovery process, but Vincent said that the actor has “a special personality that has that drive and determination,” and he believes that he’ll ultimately get to a place where “you are back stronger than you were before the accident.”
As far as Renner himself goes, he said just a few days ago that he feels “lucky” despite his horrific accident, and in late March, he even shared photos of the snowplow that caused this mess arriving back at his home. He also used a throwback post for fellow MCU star Robert Downey Jr.’s birthday as a reminder to the masses that this wasn’t the first time he suffered a major injury; during the filming of the first Avengers movie, he ripped a muscle from his back to his shoulder, which required him walk around on crutches while production was shut down for a few weeks.
We here at CinemaBlend will continue to pass along updates on how Jeremy Renner’s recovery is coming along. In the meantime, all four episodes of Rennervations can be viewed with a Disney+ subscription now, while Paramount+ subscribers can see him play Mike McClusky in the two seasons of Mayor of Kingstown.
