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'He's So Damn Smart': Jeremy Renner Reveals How Ben Affleck Helped Him Prepare For His Role In The Town
Jeremy Renner recently revealed how his co-star Ben Affleck, who also served as the director of their crime thriller film The Town, helped him prepare for his role as James Coughlin.
Jeremy Renner recently revealed how his co-star Ben Affleck helped him prepare for his role as James Coughlin in their 2010 crime thriller The Town. Affleck starred as Douglas MacRay and served as the director of the film.
Renner shared that Affleck introduced him to former inmates to help him learn and understand the Boston accent and culture for his role in the movie. The actor also gushed about sharing the screen with him, noting that it was "great" working with him. Read on further to know more details.
How Ben Affleck helped prepare Jeremy Renner for his role in The Town
Jeremy Renner recently appeared on the latest episode of the SmartLess podcast and revealed how he initially met Ben Affleck on the set of their 2010 film The Town.
According to US Weekly, Renner mentioned that that was the first time he met the actor and even teased him, questioning how he would direct and act in the movie, saying, "You’re kinda an OK actor. How do you expect to act in this thing? [I was] kinda f**ing with him."
Set in Boston, The Town follows bank robber Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), who leads a ruthless gang of criminals with his best friend James (Jeremy Renner). The Bourne Legacy star praised his co-star, saying that he's "damn smart," noting that working with him was "great" because he gave him a lot of "freedom."
He explained that he had never been to Boston and didn't know much about it. The actor said Affleck (who had directed the film) decided not to use dialect coaches and introduce him to "former inmates, armed and bank robbers." Jeremy Renner said he then spent a few weeks hanging out with these guys in bars, which helped him understand and develop his character.
Ben Affleck reflects on the casting process of The Town
In a previous interview with The Ringer, Ben Affleck revealed that since it was his first time directing and starring in a film, he didn't have the big budget to pay a "bunch" of actors.
He said he "had the luxury" of being able to cast the "best actors," noting that he preferred actors who weren't too famous because he wanted to surprise the audience and avoid predictable performances. "It’s really great to hire people with whom an audience isn’t overly familiar because audiences have developed expectations," Affleck added.
Ben Affleck mentioned that this approach gave him the freedom to cast based on acting ability rather than star status, which made the characters more unpredictable and interesting.
The Town is available to stream on Netflix.
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