MCU and Mayor of Kingstown star Jeremy Renner is facing accusations from his filmmaking partner. The two-time Academy Award-nominated actor allegedly threatened to “call ICE” on Yi Zhou, who is working with Renner on the documentary Chronicles of Disney and the AI-animated film Stardust Future.
According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, Renner also allegedly shared “unsolicited pornographic images” with Zhou in addition to threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the filmmaker. Zhou took to Instagram to elaborate on the accusations against the Hawkeye star. Her post can be seen below.
Zhou “invited” Renner to be part of her Chronicles of Disney documentary and her feature Stardust Future earlier this year. “It is with deep regret, sadness, and disappointment that I am compelled to share a truth I have been holding inside for too long,” Zhou wrote in the Instagram post. She continued, “Mr. Renner first contacted me directly in June, sending personal and intimate photographs of himself, behavior that, according to public reports, he has exhibited before.” The San Francisco Chronicle reached out to Renner for comment, but thus far Renner has not addressed the allegations.
In October, Zhou told the Daily Mail she was dating Renner, but then said that the actor denied their relationship and also refused to publicly promote the two films they had been working on together. “When I called him out privately about his past misconduct and asked him to behave properly, to respect me as a woman and as a filmmaker, he threatened to call immigration/ICE on me, an act that deeply shocked and frightened me,” Zhou continued on Instagram. “No woman, filmmaker, or creative should have to work under such emotional and psychological pressure while trying to protect her name and the integrity of her work,” she stated.
Stardust Future is the First AI Feature
Mike Mclusky has an intense phone conversation about another hit on his people in Mayor of Kingstown.Image via Paramount Pictures
Also in October, it was announced that Renner would be lending his voice to Zhou’s AI feature, Stardust Future: Stars and Scars. The film is described as the very first feature film created entirely using artificial intelligence. Renner is set to voice a character called the Oracle of Time, who is the narrator of the story who leads the film’s audience through a tale that spans the origin of the universe up until the year 2080. The project is set to be Renner’s voice-acting return since his near-fatal snowplow accident back in 2023. Zhou’s Into the Sun Entertainment is expected to mount a campaign for the film when it comes time for the 2026 Academy Awards and will seek nominations in categories like best animated feature, original score, original song, sound, film editing, and visual effects.
At the time of the announcement of Stardust Future, Zhou said that the film is blending 2D animation with 3D animation techniques in a way she’s trademarked as being a “distinct narrative approach.” She added that the film’s visual shift mirrors “thematic contrasts between past and present, imagination and reality.” Zhou’s production company claims that no previous feature-length film has used AI to create the entire work with this kind of animation style.
“This is a film born from the intersection of human resilience and machine imagination,” Zhou said. “I asked AI to tell me about our past and show me our future. My team and I used AI not as a replacement for creativity, but as an extension of memory to heal what humanity has broken and to dream of what we will become,” Zhou added. “AI is a tool for humanity, not to replace human creativity. It enhances our possibilities and builds what I call an immortality scape, a vision where art, bodies, memory, and technology converge to transcend time. I am inspired by its positive potential for the future, as long as we make a safe and respectful use of it,” she said.
Release Date
November 14, 2021
Network
Paramount+
Showrunner
Taylor Sheridan
Directors
Stephen Kay, Guy Ferland, Christoph Schrewe, Clark Johnson, Paul Cameron, Tasha Smith, Taylor Sheridan
Writers
James Arcega Tinsley
Jeremy Renner
Mike McLusky
