Jeremy Renner and Diane Sawyer will discuss the actor’s near-death experience in an upcoming ABC News special.
In January, Renner was severely injured and hospitalized following a snowplow accident near his home in Nevada. In a statement to Complex and other outlets at the time, a rep for the actor said he was in “critical but stable condition” after suffering injuries in what was then described as a “weather-related accident while plowing snow.”
In a first look at the new interview, which marks Renner’s first since the harrowing accident, he’s asked by Sawyer if he remembers the pain he felt during what local law enforcement described as a “traumatic injury” incident.
“Oh, all of it,” he said. “Yeah, I was awake through every moment.” At the time, Renner was trying to save his nephew, who was directly in the path of the snowplow. The nephew is also featured in the trailer, opening up about the moment he saw Renner “in a pool of blood” that he says was coming from the actor’s head.
“I didn’t think he was alive,” the nephew told Sawyer.
Elsewhere, Renner told Sawyer he’d “do it again” because the vehicle was headed straight for his nephew. He also responded to Sawyer running through an extensive list of injuries he sustained in the accident by revealing what he was thinking earlier into the recovery process.
“Am I just gonna be, like, a spine and a brain, like a science experiment?” he said.
Toward the end of the first glimpse at the hour-long special, Renner asserted his resilience in the larger situation, recovery for which he has documented on social media.
“I chose to survive,” he told Sawyer. “You’re not gonna kill me. No way.” He also expressed a sense of gratitude, saying that he now sees a “lucky man” when he looks in the mirror.
“I’ve lost a lot of flesh and bone in this experience but I’ve been refueled and refilled with love and titanium,” Renner said.
The full special is set to debut on April 6, followed by a Hulu rollout on April 7. Stay tuned for additional coverage in the coming days.
