Jeremy Renner hasn’t exactly been America’s sweetheart. He came under fire in 2015 when he and fellow Avenger, Chris Evans, called Scarlett Johansson’s character Black Widow a “slut” and a “whore” during a junket interview. Evans released a sincere apology, while Renner basically gave one of those “sorry if you were offended” lines, and then doubled down on calling Black Widow a slut once again on Conan O’Brien’s show.

Hopefully Renner is getting his act together, and if “Arrival” director Denis Villeneuve is to be believed, Renner has learned a bit of something about women in film.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Villeneuve describes how Renner was there for Amy Adams, the sci-fi film’s star. When THR brought up the fact that not a lot of sci-fi movies have female leads, and wondered if Renner was gung-ho about being a supporting character, Villeneuve said absolutely.

“I had a lot of respect for Jeremy Renner as an actor before I worked with him, because I was very impressed with what he did in ‘The Hurt Locker.’ And I wanted to work with him for a long time. For me it was very moving that he was there for Amy; he was not there for himself. He knew that from the start,” Villeneuve said.

“When he took the part he said, ‘I love the part, but I know it’s Amy’s movie, and I’m going to be there.’ They are close friends. He just wanted to help her create that universe and that character, which is honestly, the opposite of what we see in the cinema most of the time, where women are there to create heroes. Women are around to make the men look great, or strong. When you think about it, I hope that in the future we won’t have to talk about it with journalists, that it will be normal.”

We hope so too, especially if someone like Renner can learn from his past mistakes.

“Arrival” premiered at the Venice Film Festival and screened at Telluride. The film will play at TIFF this month and hits theaters in the U.S. on November 11.