Actor Jeremy Renner Launches Reality Rebuild Show ‘Rennervations’

Actor Jeremy Renner was the guy who diffused bombs in The Hurt Locker, plays Hawkeye in The Avengers film franchise, and has co-starred in two Mission Impossible films, among many other roles. But the thing he enjoys most is his charity projects. He wants to use his fame for the common good. And maybe to do something with the 200 derelict full-size city buses and fire engines he keeps in a big lot outside Reno, Nevada, near his Lake Tahoe-area home.

Despite Renner’s presence and that of other celebrity guests like Vanessa Hudgens, Anil Kapoor, Anthony Mackie, and Sebastián Yatra, it’s the 200 buses that star in the new Disney+ series Rennervations. Renner and crew refurbish the buses for specific charity programs around the world.

So far those include: a mobile music studio for underprivileged kids in Chicago, a mobile rec center for kids in Reno, a water treatment center for people in India, and a mobile dance studio for a children’s charity in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Renner and team talk to charities around the world to find out what they need and then come up with plans to meet those needs using the buses.

“He’s tied in with a lot of charities,” said Renner’s friend and producer Rory Millikin. “He’s got great networks with charities around the world. He started putting feelers out that he wanted to work with some organizations and (looked at) which ones helped kids that are legitimate, that he would want to use his platform to spotlight. That’s how it started.”

It’s been a long-time passion project for the twice-Oscar-nominated actor.

“I’ve been on this journey for many years,” said Renner. “I started in my community by building vehicles for people in need. But a few years ago I thought, ‘How can I plus this up and create a bigger impact on a whole community?’ And that’s what this show does.”

It also helps him recover from the severe snowplow accident he had January 1 of this year, when his 14,500-pound snow cat ran him over, breaking 30 bones in his body and nearly killing him.

“This is one of my biggest passions and it’s a driving force in my recovery, and I can’t wait for the world to see it.”

The series borrows heavily from earlier examples of the welding-and-hammering-on-cars genre, with a whole team of fabricators working toward a deadline, but does it without the artificial drama and throwing of wrenches and chairs seen in other such shows.

“Once I got up there, and they told me what it was about, I just got even more excited about the project,” said welder Roxy Molohon, who was recruited straight out of welding school. “It’s amazing that we got to build something and give back to the community.”

If there’s a shortcoming it’s that there are only four of these episodes made right now. So when you log onto Disney+ starting Wednesday and watch them, you may feel shortchanged. Renner has 200 buses and fire engines, after all.

“We were just talking about that earlier today, about season two and three,” said Millikin. “He’d love this to be a legacy project, because it creates inspiration and gets people off the couch to look around their neighborhood to find organizations, like the ones he’s highlighting, that can make a difference for kids. If that can be your legacy, he’d love to do this for many years to come. And it’s kind of become a dream of his, really.”