Evangeline Lilly and Jeremy Renner are pretty good friends. That was evident by her making a visit to the injured actor at his home in Los Angeles.
The actress told Extra that her visit with Renner was intense and remarked he was incredibly brave and strong.
“He was in a wheelchair,” she said. “And when we made that movie [2008’s The Hurt Locker], he was so young and he was full of verve, and I remember just being so impressed by him. What’s so ironic is at that point I was like the ‘celebrity cameo’ on some level because I was on Lost, and I was like, ‘Who’s this kid?’ ”
“He has recovered like a mo-fo,” said Lilly. “I walked in his house and got chicken skin, ’cause I was like, ‘Why are you mobile? Why are you mobile? What’s happening?’ I expected to sit at his bedside and hold his hand while he moaned and groaned in pain and wasn’t able to move. He was wheeling himself around, laughing with his friends. It’s a miracle, a straight-up miracle.”
She added, “He’s made of something really tough, that guy. You’ve always been able to see that in him. He is recovering incredibly, and I’m so grateful.”
Adding more about the “intense” recent visit to Renner’s house, Lilly said, “He had a near-death experience that was highly traumatic — and he was awake for the whole thing. It really has stuck with me. It’s been days and I’m still having moments where some of the stuff he told me that he experienced and retelling me the story of what went on and things he could hear and things he could see….”
“He’s got a journey to go through now,” she said. “That’s what nightmares are made out of, and he lived through it and he’s on the other side now.”