Couldn't connect to it: Jeremy Renner on turning down offer to play Hellboy

Long before Ron Perlman played the demon superhero Hellboy in Guillermo del Toro's 2004 film, Jeremy Renner was offered the part but the actor decided against it.

Talking to actor Justin Long on his podcast "Life Is Short", Renner said he got put off by the film's script.

"I was just reading the script and (thinking) like, 'I don't get this...' I just couldn't connect to it. I said, 'I can't find a way in (to this character), I don't know what I'd be doing,' so I had to say no," the actor said.

Perlman eventually took on the role, playing the part in "Hellboy" and its 2008 sequel "Hellboy II: The Golden Army".

Actor David Harbour most recently portrayed the superhero character in Neil Marshall's rebooted version, which released in April this year to poor reviews.

Looking back, Renner has "zero regrets" about turning down the part.

"There's zero regrets, zero. Most of the time it's like, 'Oh, I'm glad I didn't do it,' and it made sense to me. Not just 'Hellboy' or whatever it was, and I'm not saying that it's a good or bad movie, it's not about that... I just wouldn't have fit there," the 48-year-old actor said.