Jeremy Renner Movie 'Kill The Messenger' Poses Challenges For 'Avengers' Actor, Says 'It's The Movie I Wanted To Do'

Jeremy Renner will once again portray a heroic role in the upcoming serious thriller "Kill The Messenger" set to be released in US theaters on Friday this week. Barely a week before it is released, the Avengers star talks about being the late Gary Webb and how he is proud to be involved in this movie project.

In an interview with Indiewire, the 43-year old actor revealed that he has also produced the movie together with director Michael Cuesta and scriptwriter Peter Landesman under Focus Films. Asked why he co-produced the film, he said:

"It was the great script that I bought, and I read the books it was inspired by. The more information I got on Gary's Webb's plight, which went down near my home, the more interested I was. I knew very little about it, but it very quickly went from a movie I wanted to do to a movie I had to do. I just had to tell the story."

Gary Webb is an American journalist who has established links in the 80s and 90s between the government, the CIA and cocaine operations and the Nicaraguan rebels and exposing these events in the California's San Jose Mercury News and other newspapers in the country. His reports have led protests by African-American groups urging for more exposure of the matter and outwitting other news agencies for not focusing on such a serious issue.

"I knew the story. I remember it, him being discredited. It was just devastating. I felt for him and I saw that as an injustice," said director Michael Cuesta (also the director of the 'Homeland' thriller) referring to the risk of the journalist's as well as his family's life.

Meanwhile, the American Hustle actor talks about the difficulties in a realistic playing of Gary Webb's role.

"There's limitations to playing someone who existed. It starts off easier, cause you have a roadmap already built for you, and you can lean on that to learn about the character. But then you're limited cause you can't veer off the roadmap so much. They always present challenges, but I like those challenges."

Kill the Messenger is based on Gary Webb's previous published books "Dark Alliance" and "Kill the Messenger". It also derived facts from Nick Schou's book "How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb."