'The Bourne Legacy' director Tony Gilroy didn't leave a second to waste when he heard that Jeremy Renner was available to play the lead character in the new film. Talking to Vulture Blog, Gilroy said "My memory of it is that we did two big waves of screen tests. (Jeremy) wasn't on the first bunch of lists that we had, and he hadn't been available because the Avengers schedule was so up in the air and they were so sketchy about putting that together... and then all of a sudden, he was on an "available" list."
After finding out his change of availability, Gilroy joked that they were on "red alert" to try and get their man. "He hit the trifecta for us of what we needed to play the role, so we sent him a script right away and then went to Germany to talk to him" the director explained.
Addressing casting the movie as a whole, Gilroy, who can list 'Michael Clayton' and 'Duplicity' among his credits, described the process as a "nerve-wracking odyssey". He added "There were people I met along the way that were completely surprising and not what I expected at all and people I completely connected with... and there were people that really fell off my truck, in a way, where you sort of go, 'Wow. There's really nothing there'".