By Tasnim Oyshi
Staff Writer
On Nov. 3, filmmaker Yi Zhou accused Jeremy Renner of sending her explicit photos. She detailed her experience with him in a series of Instagram posts. “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,” she wrote in her first post about the situation, claiming that he told her he was ready for a long-term relationship.
According to her second post, he came to a “written agreement” with her Italian production company, Into the Sun Films, for his image and likeness to be used in her projects. However, when her AI-animated film “Stardust Futures: Stars and Scars” and documentary “Chroniclies of Disney” were released, he did not promote them. When she “called him out privately,” he allegedly threatened to call ICE on her.
Zhou has since made several other posts on the app about Renner that have included alleged screenshots of messages shared between the two, photos of him on her phone, and screenshots of her texts with other women who have apparently had similar experiences with him.
According to the New York Post, Zhou also stated that she and Renner dated while working on the two films. She said to the Daily Mail that Renner once drank a bottle of wine during a meeting in Reno, Nev. and yelled for two hours. She allegedly had to lock herself in a room. In texts with her Disney colleagues published by the Daily Mail, she called him “violent.”
A representative for the Marvel actor denied the allegations and his attorney, Marty Singer, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the director on Nov. 7. According to Variety, the letter states they had a “brief consensual encounter” in July after an interview in Reno and Zhou allegedly pursued Renner on social media as well as physically after their interview.
In addition, the letter says that Renner rejected her sexual advances in August and that she “has allegedly sent Renner hundreds of messages” since then. In terms of the projects they were supposed to make together, Renner apparently did not agree to be a part of any project other than “Chronicles of Disney.”
As stated in an exclusive report by Deadline, “Deadline exclusively reported on Renner’s participation in the Chinese filmmaker’s ‘Chronicles of Disney’ last October 9. There was no mention of another film or ‘Stardust Future’ from Zhou’s Into the Sun shingle at the time.”
“If you continue to exploit my client’s name, voice and likeness for any project other than the Disney documentary without his consent, you will be sued,” Singer said in the letter on behalf of Renner. “Let me be very clear: my client has absolutely no intention to engage with you regarding any personal or professional matters whatsoever, and your continued threats will result in legal action including but not limited to a restraining order against you.”
Deadline also reported that they had been able to see the alleged release document and it contained the initials “JR” but they were not able to validate whether it was real or not. The article stated that Zhou apparently had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Renner on Oct. 29 through email. According to the article, “She told Deadline that she hopes Singer could be a “peacemaker” between her and the ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ star.”
In the most recent news, Zhao made another Instagram post on Nov. 15, writing that both sides had come to a “peaceful and mutually respectful resolution without any settlement money from both sides.” However, Singer has come out denying this statement, according to the Independent.
“There was no deal reached with Yi Zhou to resolve my client Jeremy Renner’s substantial multi-million dollar claims against her,” Singer told TMZ during an exclusive interview. “I have no knowledge why Yi Zhou would fabricate a story that a deal has been made with her since she was notified that there was no deal with her, including her use of Jeremy Renner in an animated movie when he only agreed to be in a documentary.”
Zhao later made another post, writing, “I have understood the counter party was ok with the discussions we had, but it seems they force me to re-tract my statements from past weeks which I am not willing to.” She said she is “willing to offer peace” but also that there are “millions of damages and charges to claim.” She ended the post by writing, “Be the voice of change you wish to be.” There have not been further updates to the case as of now.
