Jeremy Renner’s Stunts In ‘Mission Impossible’

Did Jeremy Renner do his own stunts in Mission: Impossible&emdash;Ghost Protocol?

—George Grimes, Ocala, Fla.

Renner, 41, says when it comes to stunt work, he is attracted to the physical challenge&emdash;if it is necessary and serves the story and the character&emdash;but he is not as gung-ho as his co-star, Tom Cruise, 49.

The Modesto, Calif.-born actor admits he did have some trepidation during the scarier moments of shoot for Ghost Protocol, such as the scene on top of Dubai's Burj Khalifa&emdash;the tallest building in the world at 2,716 feet. "Tom is out there, running around, doing his thing all over the building. And we're just standing there, sort of by the edge, and that is terrifying," he says. "Tom was laughing. He's hanging upside down; he's all red-faced, and he's like, 'Look at this view!' I'm like, 'What are you talking about? I'm gonna vomit on you.' But once that went away, he was right. It was beautiful."

Now that it is behind him, Renner also admits that it was good preparation for three of his upcoming films: the action thriller The Bourne Legacy, the action horror movie Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, and the superhero flick he Avengers.

"Tom has prepared me for the mental place to be," Renner says. "When you're doing an action sequence, like in any professional sport, in America at least, if you get injured or you hurt your knee or whatever, the second string comes in. But that doesn't happen on movies. So you can't get injured. So [I got] on this really great program to prevent injuries. Tom introduced me to some really great physiotherapists and that sort of thing to prepare my body for that sort of torture."