Jeremy Renner’s breakout and Oscar-nominated performance in The Hurt Locker has piqued the collective interest of film fans worldwide. So what will the actor do next?

The New York Times brings word [via The Playlist] that Renner is choosing between Peter Berg’s (Hancock, The Kingdom, The Rundown) board game adaptation Battleship or an undisclosed movie for which he’s had “no less than five meetings.” The actor will choose between the two projects soon; both are expected to begin shooting this summer.

But one thing we know for sure: Renner will suit up for director James McTeigue’s (V For Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) latest indie project, Raven. The plot synopsis is as follows:

[Raven is] a fictionalized account of the final five “mysterious” days of Edgar Allen Poe’s life. Apparently the famous writer joins the hunt for a serial killer whose murders are inspired by his stories. McTeigue described the film: It’s like the poem, The Raven, itself, crossed with Se7en. It should be pretty cool. The script is really good and everyone responds to it really well.

Ewan McGregor is in talks to co-star with Renner in Raven, and I don’t know about you, but no amount of ninja assassins could sway my interest from this project. At this point, it’s unclear what parts the two actors would play in the film, but they are both high quality actors in an interesting-sounding story, so I’m sold regardless. Does this project interest you? What do you think about Renner’s potential involvement in Berg’s Battleship?

Today the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced, and as expected Avatar picked up quite a few in a number of categories. Sandra Bullock, Christoph Waltz, Jeremy Renner, Morgan Freeman, Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep also recieved nominations for their acting.

You can see the full list of nominations below:

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up in the Air

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious

Animated Feature
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Directing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air

Music (Original Score)
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

The winners will be revealed on March 7th in a ceremony presented by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

Last month The Hurt Locker actor Jeremy Renner spoke quite openly about possibly playing Hawkeye in The Avengers, and maybe Thor. The internet seemed pretty welcoming of this casting as many thought he would be perfect for the role, however he was recently interviewed by Movieline and he revealed that it was blown a little out of proportion, and it was only an idea Marvel had.

That was just one of those things that got blown way out of proportion. It was an idea. Those Marvel guys, I’m a big fan of them. They’re so smart about how they want to do these things — they have Captain America, and Thor coming around, Iron Man 2, and then I happen to know Zak Penn, who’s writing The Avengers. So they thought Hawkeye is an interesting role, and asked me if I knew anything about him. I said no, so they gave me their sort of spiel on what he was, and I thought that it was kind of interesting. The only reason it came out this early, because Avengers is two years away, is that they’re thinking OK, we may throw him in Thor, we may not, as a cameo. You know what I mean? So there’s truth that we talked about it, but there’s no truth to me doing it.

Thor begins filming next month so there is still time for them to hire Renner as Hawkeye for a cameo appearance. There is still over 2 years before we see The Avengers on screen so anything could happen between then and now. I hope they cast Renner though, as he’d make a great Hawkeye.

Last week Empire spoke to The Hurt Locker actor Jeremy Renner and he revealed that he had been talking with Marvel about playing Hawkeye in The Avengers, and possibly Thor. I found him talking about this quite surprising, as actors rarely talk about things like this as studios often ask actors not to reveal such details, and Marvel haven’t even said anything about Hawkeye yet so he’s kinda let the cat out of the bag.

Anyhow, SHH caught up with the actor at the Independent Film Gotham Awards recently and he revealed even more details.

“I haven’t heard anything since I talked to them three weeks ago,” he admitted. “The last I knew is that they still have to find their director for ‘The Avengers,’ that’s where he’s really going to show up. They were just talking, ‘Like maybe we should consider maybe hiring Hawkeye now’ but there’s no director on ‘Avengers’ so they don’t really want to force-feed the director, ‘Here’s the whole cast.’ It’s a big role so they didn’t want to do that to the director, so I think they might wait. I know they’re interested, I’m interested, so we’ll see if it works out.”

“They sold me on the idea, too, because I love the idea that Hawkeye’s really not a superhero,” Jeremy told us. “He’s just a man with a high skill set, so I can relate to (that). The Marvel guys are great for how they made Iron Man to be, ‘Oh, that’s actually plausible’ so I bought it and I love that. They’re really, really smart guys and I’d love to work for ‘em, and we’ll see if it works out.”

When we asked him if he’s started reading up on his Hawkeye comic book history just in case he gets the role, he gave us a possible hint of what the character might look like in the movie compared to the comics: “Yeah, but it’s going to be modernized, it’s not going to be the guy with the big purple (mask), it’s not going to be a guy in tights. It’s going to be a guy in sunglasses and a vest. He’s going to be more modernized and I’m gonna say, ‘A cooler-looking version’ and not the big weird costume he had on. I don’t think they’re going that route.”

I hope all this talking doesn’t hurt his chances of getting the role, as he would be great as Hawkeye.

Jeremy Renner, who played Sgt. William James in The Hurt Locker earlier this year, may be in talks with Marvel to play Hawkeye. The Playlist have a quote from the actor which appeared in the latest issue of Empire magazine:

Renner says he and Marvel have been in discussions about playing the archer character Hawkeye that will make appearances in a least two upcoming Marvel pictures, including a cameo in “Thor” and then a role in “The Avengers” supergroup.

“Hawkeye could be interesting. They’re going to send me some stuff on it, see what it is. But I think they’re pretty awesome, trying to make superhero movies almost plausible and not just some fantasy thing.”

Jeremy Renner would be a great choice for Hawkeye. In the comics Hawkeye joined the Avengers by breaking into their Headquarters. Here’s a bit more info on the character:

Orphaned at a young age, Clint Barton took the classic way out for a precocious and physically capable kid – he ran away from home and joined the circus. There, he was trained as an acrobat and archer, although he later received a rude awakening when he discovered that his carnival mentors were criminals.

Inspired by the exploits of the Avengers, he became the costumed vigilante Hawkeye, and was eventually able to talk his way onto the team. His hot-headed attitude has gotten him into trouble from time to time, but his heart has always been in the right place, and for a time he enjoyed a successful stint as the leader of the West Coast Avengers.

The Hurt Locker is a war movie, no doubt. But war movies come in many shapes and sizes, since the only criteria is that the movie be about war or be about a particular war. Good Morning Vietnam? Still a war movie. Lions for Lambs? War movie.

Movies about the Iraq War haven’t been doing so well at the box office in recent years. It might have been because the American Government was making their own policy horror film and facing that reality on our free time was not the movie-going public’s idea of entertainment. Or maybe those movies just didn’t know how to approach the subject matter.

When I know I’m strapping in for a war movie, there are some things I have come to expect:

1) War is confusing, so there will inevitably be a scene where key information about what’s happening is withheld from you.

2) The people who serve our country are heroes, so except a character with strong moral fiber.

3) There will probably be a character who wasn’t expecting the realism of life or death situations. This character will break down in a battle situation, adding tension because he’s obviously not doing his job.

4) There will be a “What does it all mean?” scene or discussion which usually ends with something like: “War Is Hell.”

The Hurt Locker doesn’t fail to meet these criteria, though some of the above four points are hit harder than others, but what makes it different from other war movies is that it’s primarily set in combat, and that it might be the best superhero movie to come out this year.

The Hurt Locker was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, whose diverse career thus far includes vampires in Near Dark, surfers in Point Break, and the only movie poster I own but refuse to put up on my wall, the dismal submarine flick, K19: Widowmaker. She shot the movie on Super 16mm film, mostly handheld, in Jordan from a script by Iraq reporter Mark Boal. As a result, this film drops you into combat and keeps you there for the duration. The tension is immediately cranked up from the first scene where we learn that things explode and kill people.

This isn’t a movie about situations, this isn’t a movie about message, this is a movie about waking up every day knowing that things explode and kill people, and this is a fact. The uncertainty each day revolves around swimming against the tide, hoping that whatever happens in your corner of the war, it isn’t you that dies.

Enter Jeremy Renner in the role of Staff Sergeant William James. James is brought in to serve as team leader for the three-person EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team. He’s the guy that straps on the suit and does the work that gets himself ‘sploded. This is your superhero this summer. He is Mavrick before Goose, and even when you think the guy is going to have a Goose moment and start doubting his cocky attitude and impeccable talent, Jeremy Renner refuses to let the character crack. When he shows up, he scares the living shit out of Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) by not using the robot to find the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) reported somewhere down the street. James just suits up and goes for it. Later, he’ll take off his gigantic not-quite-bomb proof suit to defuse a bomb because if he’s going to die, he’d rather be comfortable.

He’s introduced as the bad ass wild man and continues to be such through the film. There is no doubt that Sgt. James is actually a hot shot, diffusing over 800 bombs and still staying alive. Even when the EOD gets pinned down by sniper fire, James proves himself as a capable leader when explosives aren’t involved. The great thing about a war movie is that you can introduce a character like James, a character who is unquestionably good at what he does – the hero of the story – and still have us fear for his life in every scene because…well, because it’s Iraq not Gotham, God dammit.

Last summer, we had Bruce Wayne asking the big questions, questions about a hero’s place in society and the power of one man on the side of good or evil making a difference; since The Dark Knight has divided superhero movies into two different camps: fantasy-escapism or realism-escapism, where does that leave real superheros in the real world?

Make no mistake, Sgt. James is a superhero. And I’m not saying that because I’m too chickenshit myself to enlist. As Winston Zedmore would say: he has the tools, he has the talent. He’s also a person addicted to the drug of war, and since we’re not talking about a sniper or a SEAL, he’s not placed in a situation where he has to kill on someone else’s orders or make a tactical decision that could turn the tides. All Sgt. James does throughout the whole film is try to save lives, sometimes in a very-real explosion type of way and other times in a more psychological manner.

So, much like Batman, the question that is the most interesting throughout the film is how this changes a person, how it affects them. While Sgt. Sanborn’s will to live practically oozes out his pores and Specialist Eldridge’s fear of death becomes his story purpose, Sgt. James still tries to save lives the only way he knows how. And these attempts aren’t always successful, but in a good superhero story, they never are.

The Hurt Locker as a war movie falls on the exact opposite of the Iraq spectrum as Jarhead. That film was suppose to create the ennui of war in the viewers, and sort of succeeded for better or for worse. The Hurt Locker doesn’t give you a lot of time to breathe, even using a (pardon the seemingly bomb related reference) ticking clock of this particular team’s deployment to move the story towards its conclusion. Kathryn Bigelow knows action, and this is an action movie on its surface.

However, it’s Jeremy Renner who shines in this film as Sgt. James. If I was only reading the dialogue on the page of the script, I would think James was almost too perfect, possibly insane. When he pulls saved bomb-parts out from under his bunk, mementos from things that almost killed him, I was afraid the scene would go all Speed on me with a speech about how a bomb is a beautiful thing that is meant to explode. What really happened was a Renner moment, where the character’s struggle to stay super, to not just become another confused hero who found himself in a war movie. The flaws in Sgt. James are never spoken, they’re acted, and when the film comes to a close, Renner’s performance suddenly rushes at your memory, revealing itself to be the center of the film, a center that is handled very quietly and very deliberately. And you just don’t see that kind of character work in summer films these days.

The Hurt Locker can currently be seen by those of you in New York and Los Angeles that have nifty art-house theaters, cinemas that are slowly getting pushed out of the summer months when everyone else is letting summer tent pole movies take their hard earned recession money.