Jeremy Renner's Favorite Tools for Making Music and Flipping Homes (The Wall Street Journal)
- Details
- 06 Jun
- Written by coolshades
Whether fixing up million-dollar properties or motoring alongside his daughter in her matching mini-Tesla, the Hollywood tough guy enjoys the good life—especially his leaf blower.
by Chris Kornelis
At 8 years old, Jeremy Renner walked alone to and from his Modesto, Calif., school, letting himself into his house each afternoon with the key hanging from a nylon string around his neck. Free to do what he liked, he built forts, shot bottle rockets and figured many things out for himself.
"I had a lot of free time to sort of raise myself," Mr. Renner, now 47, said. "I was a doer. I was very actionable. And I think in doing that it was the beginning of just trying and failing and overcoming."
Mr. Renner said the skills developed during his free-range youth have helped in all aspects of life, including becoming one of Hollywood's most recognizable actors, taking on Oscar-nominated roles in films like "The Hurt Locker," and joining summer tentpoles like the Mission: Impossible and Avengers franchises. This monthe he stars with Jon Hamm in "Tag," a comedy about a cross-country game of cat and mouse among friends.
Mr. Renner has also joyfully taken on the role of father to Ava, his 5-year-old daughter. He writes and performs music -- left-handed on drums, right-handed on guitar -- and for the last quarter-century has worked as an accomplished house flipper. Tearing into homes with potential -- like that of iconic Old Hollywood filmmaker Preston Sturges -- he turns them into luxury properties worth many millions of dollars.
"[My] skill set is being an observer and spending time figuring out how to problem solve," he said. "I was never really taught anything."
