Charlie Hunnam
- Thread starter CoachGirl12
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
I've skimmed through a couple reviews of this movie and so far they're positive, hope that trend continues because I'm very interested to see this movie... particularly for the director.
I've never thought much of Hunnam as an actor but he seems to have kept his head down since SOA finished and he's slowly been making headway. Hope it goes well for him.
I've never thought much of Hunnam as an actor but he seems to have kept his head down since SOA finished and he's slowly been making headway. Hope it goes well for him.
Here's What It's Like to Fight Charlie Hunnam
What we learned from sparring with the outlaw biker from Sons of Anarchy who has now become a king
It's 7:30 a.m. on a gray day in Beverly Hills. Charlie Hunnam pulls up in his black Audi to his favorite place—the dojo.
You recognize him as Jax, the badass biker from Sons of Anarchy. He played the gangbanger on TV for seven years. "You excited to do this?" he asks. "It's not like I know that much jiu-jitsu, but damn, let's start." The 36-year-old Brit has been training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) for over a year. He got hooked watching UFC bouts and wrestling in his backyard. In a few months he'll test for a white belt. Hunnam stands about 6 feet and is a ripped 165 pounds. I'm slightly smaller and earned a black belt in Muay Thai years ago. I'm curious to see whether he can really fight or it was all an act.
We start a 30-minute warmup with some easy running, but soon we're doing high-knees, butt kicks, and jumping jacks. Next we're on the mat doing crunches, side-to-sides, leg raises, pushups, and pullups. Hunnam hops on the monkey bars and swings to the end. Sweat spatters on the mat. He does another round of bars, and then another. Later I learn that part of his regular routine includes running 5 miles and doing 300 pushups and 100 pullups. He's ready for American Ninja Warrior. This training session will be intense.
That Hunnam is fastidious about fitness is no surprise. He has to be fit to meet the physical demands of the roles he's drawn to—"muscular male narratives." Fresh off Sons of Anarchy, he switched focus to the big screen, working back-to-back on three movies over the past two years. The biggest is King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, directed by Guy Ritchie (opening in May). He also stars in The Lost City of Z (April 21), about an explorer who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925, and Papillon, a remake of the 1973 Steve McQueen flick (later this year).
But there's more to his motivation to exercise than the desire to look good. "I'm interested in having a high fitness level across the board," he says. "Running, swimming, jumping rope, hiking, jiu-jitsu—I try to do it all. I also try to make love as often as I can. That's an important part of fitness. There's no reason you can't be active at 70. I want to run up mountains at that age."
The learning curve in our jiu-jitsu class is steep. In the first segment, the sensei teaches new moves, starting with arm bars and moving on to choke holds. I'm kneeling on the mat and Hunnam's arm is wrapped around my throat. The pressure on my neck is firm, but I feel strangely safe with him. He's strong but displays precise control and even a lightness of touch. Although brutal, there is an art to cutting off someone's air supply. I double-tap his arm to signal submission. The sensei, Rigan Machado, an eighth-degree black belt member of Brazilian jiu-jitsu's founding Gracie family, says Hunnam is a perfectionist—something I experience firsthand as we practice again and again and Hunnam fine-tunes his chokes. Nothing grounds you in the present more than being unable to breathe. Jiu-jitsu training demands focus and discipline.
That fortitude was tested during King Arthur. To prepare, Hunnam "worked out like a motherfucker." He packed on 20 pounds of muscle by strength training and spent hours learning sword fighting and boxing. The movie's five-minute final fight scene took five days to shoot, filming from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. "It's not even as much the physical benefit of training; it's the mental," he says. "When you're training every day in a combat discipline, it just gives you that eye of the tiger. Then if someone acts aggressively toward you, I can run all the scenarios through my head—you know, like I'm going to step to the side and put an elbow through your face."
Hunnam sought to reimagine the noble action hero with Ritchie, himself a black belt in BJJ. "We wanted to do something a little rougher around the edges while still dealing with the rich Arthurian mythology," Hunnam says.
After King Arthur, Hunnam had 10 days off. Then he lost nearly 40 pounds in eight weeks playing his next role—Colonel Percy Fawcett, an obsessive British explorer, in The Lost City of Z. Hunnam eliminated dairy, carbs, and sugar. Then he went vegan. The shoot was in humid 100-degree weather off the grid in the Colombian jungle. Hunnam says the biggest hardship was the isolation. He talked to no one off the set, not even his girlfriend, for four months.
"People are all like, 'that's so Method of you.' Maybe it is, but I was worried about the emotional breadth of what I had to portray. I had to access that on a day-to-day basis, so I put myself in the position of living it. I felt the fear, the loneliness." Insects attacked constantly; one even burrowed in his ear. A lightning strike knocked Hunnam off his feet. The movie was shot in sequence, and by the end everyone was a little crazy, says James Gray, the film's director. "Charlie was starving and unhappy. You can see the hopelessness in his eyes. But he never missed a beat. He listens, acts, and then reacts.
"The body transformations continued with Papillon, the most recent movie he filmed. He'd regained some weight and had to lose 30 pounds. "My body was reluctant to drop the weight again," he says. He used the same vegan diet and stole a vice from his character, a felon-turned-prison-escapee: cigarettes. Hunnam puffed "like a madman" and sustained himself on coffee and nicotine for three months. "My body was a mess," he says. "It's not easy to quit smoking." He's currently using e-cigarettes to transition off.
One vice he did quit was smoking weed. He would burn through an ounce a week, but stopped in his early 30s. "In those stupid ways that we identify with ourselves, I felt like I was a Rasta," he says. "I was sort of proud at my enormous ability to smoke pot and function. But I realized I didn't want to spend my life stoned.
What we learned from sparring with the outlaw biker from Sons of Anarchy who has now become a king
It's 7:30 a.m. on a gray day in Beverly Hills. Charlie Hunnam pulls up in his black Audi to his favorite place—the dojo.
You recognize him as Jax, the badass biker from Sons of Anarchy. He played the gangbanger on TV for seven years. "You excited to do this?" he asks. "It's not like I know that much jiu-jitsu, but damn, let's start." The 36-year-old Brit has been training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) for over a year. He got hooked watching UFC bouts and wrestling in his backyard. In a few months he'll test for a white belt. Hunnam stands about 6 feet and is a ripped 165 pounds. I'm slightly smaller and earned a black belt in Muay Thai years ago. I'm curious to see whether he can really fight or it was all an act.
We start a 30-minute warmup with some easy running, but soon we're doing high-knees, butt kicks, and jumping jacks. Next we're on the mat doing crunches, side-to-sides, leg raises, pushups, and pullups. Hunnam hops on the monkey bars and swings to the end. Sweat spatters on the mat. He does another round of bars, and then another. Later I learn that part of his regular routine includes running 5 miles and doing 300 pushups and 100 pullups. He's ready for American Ninja Warrior. This training session will be intense.
That Hunnam is fastidious about fitness is no surprise. He has to be fit to meet the physical demands of the roles he's drawn to—"muscular male narratives." Fresh off Sons of Anarchy, he switched focus to the big screen, working back-to-back on three movies over the past two years. The biggest is King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, directed by Guy Ritchie (opening in May). He also stars in The Lost City of Z (April 21), about an explorer who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925, and Papillon, a remake of the 1973 Steve McQueen flick (later this year).
But there's more to his motivation to exercise than the desire to look good. "I'm interested in having a high fitness level across the board," he says. "Running, swimming, jumping rope, hiking, jiu-jitsu—I try to do it all. I also try to make love as often as I can. That's an important part of fitness. There's no reason you can't be active at 70. I want to run up mountains at that age."
The learning curve in our jiu-jitsu class is steep. In the first segment, the sensei teaches new moves, starting with arm bars and moving on to choke holds. I'm kneeling on the mat and Hunnam's arm is wrapped around my throat. The pressure on my neck is firm, but I feel strangely safe with him. He's strong but displays precise control and even a lightness of touch. Although brutal, there is an art to cutting off someone's air supply. I double-tap his arm to signal submission. The sensei, Rigan Machado, an eighth-degree black belt member of Brazilian jiu-jitsu's founding Gracie family, says Hunnam is a perfectionist—something I experience firsthand as we practice again and again and Hunnam fine-tunes his chokes. Nothing grounds you in the present more than being unable to breathe. Jiu-jitsu training demands focus and discipline.
That fortitude was tested during King Arthur. To prepare, Hunnam "worked out like a motherfucker." He packed on 20 pounds of muscle by strength training and spent hours learning sword fighting and boxing. The movie's five-minute final fight scene took five days to shoot, filming from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. "It's not even as much the physical benefit of training; it's the mental," he says. "When you're training every day in a combat discipline, it just gives you that eye of the tiger. Then if someone acts aggressively toward you, I can run all the scenarios through my head—you know, like I'm going to step to the side and put an elbow through your face."
Hunnam sought to reimagine the noble action hero with Ritchie, himself a black belt in BJJ. "We wanted to do something a little rougher around the edges while still dealing with the rich Arthurian mythology," Hunnam says.
After King Arthur, Hunnam had 10 days off. Then he lost nearly 40 pounds in eight weeks playing his next role—Colonel Percy Fawcett, an obsessive British explorer, in The Lost City of Z. Hunnam eliminated dairy, carbs, and sugar. Then he went vegan. The shoot was in humid 100-degree weather off the grid in the Colombian jungle. Hunnam says the biggest hardship was the isolation. He talked to no one off the set, not even his girlfriend, for four months.
"People are all like, 'that's so Method of you.' Maybe it is, but I was worried about the emotional breadth of what I had to portray. I had to access that on a day-to-day basis, so I put myself in the position of living it. I felt the fear, the loneliness." Insects attacked constantly; one even burrowed in his ear. A lightning strike knocked Hunnam off his feet. The movie was shot in sequence, and by the end everyone was a little crazy, says James Gray, the film's director. "Charlie was starving and unhappy. You can see the hopelessness in his eyes. But he never missed a beat. He listens, acts, and then reacts.
"The body transformations continued with Papillon, the most recent movie he filmed. He'd regained some weight and had to lose 30 pounds. "My body was reluctant to drop the weight again," he says. He used the same vegan diet and stole a vice from his character, a felon-turned-prison-escapee: cigarettes. Hunnam puffed "like a madman" and sustained himself on coffee and nicotine for three months. "My body was a mess," he says. "It's not easy to quit smoking." He's currently using e-cigarettes to transition off.
One vice he did quit was smoking weed. He would burn through an ounce a week, but stopped in his early 30s. "In those stupid ways that we identify with ourselves, I felt like I was a Rasta," he says. "I was sort of proud at my enormous ability to smoke pot and function. But I realized I didn't want to spend my life stoned.
"Right now, Hunnam is clearheaded and energetic. We're practicing moves he knows. We stand on the mats, and he teaches me how to do a two-legged takedown. "If you find yourself on the street and someone wants to take you on, you come in and take them off guard," he says. "So if I throw a punch at you, you dodge it. The minute you feel them stalling, step in, put your shoulder into it, and sweep the legs!" We shadowbox for a moment, and then I plunge in. My head and shoulder are pressed against his hip, my arms clenched around his torso. His feet go up in the air, and in one swoop, I knock him hard to the mat. "Niiiice! Just give me a little bit more push!" he yells. I try again and slam him roughly down—seven more times. "You got it. Ohhhh, now I'm in trouble!" He seems to genuinely love practice and learning.
After class we relocate to a restaurant, but the focus stays on fighting and learning. Hunnam tells me about his childhood near Newcastle, in northern England. "It's a violent place. Kids messed each other up pretty good. I was able-bodied and a target and was always having to fight," he says. He liked painting, photography, and playing rugby and had a lot of friends.
When he was 12, his mother moved him and his brother to a small town in Wales. (His parents had divorced when he was 2.) Hunnam felt like an outcast. He spent all his time alone and had a "**** it" mentality, watching movies like John Boorman's Excalibur over and over. His father, a scrap metal dealer with whom he'd stayed close, passed away four years ago. But he believes he's still with his dad in spirit. "My dad was one of the toughest savage dudes I ever met. In a way, I feel like I have been playing my father a lot in my career," he says.
Hunnam arrived in Los Angeles at 18 "with no education and nothing but an abstract dream and steadfast determination to become an actor." He scored TV and modeling gigs that led to Sons of Anarchy, which he describes as his Ivy League education. "You work so rapidly and have to solve problems on a daily basis, which sharpens your emotional toolbox." The grind strengthened his self-belief, and he embraces it in other ways too. He wants to be fluent in Spanish, so he's taking lessons. He's an avid cook and watches tutorials. And he's determined to earn a black belt in BJJ by the time he is 45 years old.
But Hunnam says he doesn't want a fancy lifestyle (he drove the same beat-up Cadillac for 14 years) and isn't fueled by fame ("It was Socrates or one of those old bastards who said, 'Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds.' It means nothing"). He says he dreams of wandering the wilderness and living off the land with his girlfriend of 11 years. When she was cyberbullied last year, he released a video telling the perpetrators to knock it off. "The way I grew up, if you want to talk ****, talk **** to someone's face and be prepared to fight." He sees social media dividing society, and he despairs. Sometimes after a shoot, he reenters the world disconnected and feeling low.
He combats those feelings with exercise. "We are supposed to be very active animals. It's our DNA." Hunnam derives emotional stability and clarity from his fitness. "Sweating is how I change my oil every day. I just feel happier, more positive, energized, and disciplined if I work out." Ultimately, he says, "I train a lot every day because I'm ****ing crazy."
Check out the April issue of Men's Health for more with Charlie Hunnam.
After class we relocate to a restaurant, but the focus stays on fighting and learning. Hunnam tells me about his childhood near Newcastle, in northern England. "It's a violent place. Kids messed each other up pretty good. I was able-bodied and a target and was always having to fight," he says. He liked painting, photography, and playing rugby and had a lot of friends.
When he was 12, his mother moved him and his brother to a small town in Wales. (His parents had divorced when he was 2.) Hunnam felt like an outcast. He spent all his time alone and had a "**** it" mentality, watching movies like John Boorman's Excalibur over and over. His father, a scrap metal dealer with whom he'd stayed close, passed away four years ago. But he believes he's still with his dad in spirit. "My dad was one of the toughest savage dudes I ever met. In a way, I feel like I have been playing my father a lot in my career," he says.
Hunnam arrived in Los Angeles at 18 "with no education and nothing but an abstract dream and steadfast determination to become an actor." He scored TV and modeling gigs that led to Sons of Anarchy, which he describes as his Ivy League education. "You work so rapidly and have to solve problems on a daily basis, which sharpens your emotional toolbox." The grind strengthened his self-belief, and he embraces it in other ways too. He wants to be fluent in Spanish, so he's taking lessons. He's an avid cook and watches tutorials. And he's determined to earn a black belt in BJJ by the time he is 45 years old.
But Hunnam says he doesn't want a fancy lifestyle (he drove the same beat-up Cadillac for 14 years) and isn't fueled by fame ("It was Socrates or one of those old bastards who said, 'Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds.' It means nothing"). He says he dreams of wandering the wilderness and living off the land with his girlfriend of 11 years. When she was cyberbullied last year, he released a video telling the perpetrators to knock it off. "The way I grew up, if you want to talk ****, talk **** to someone's face and be prepared to fight." He sees social media dividing society, and he despairs. Sometimes after a shoot, he reenters the world disconnected and feeling low.
He combats those feelings with exercise. "We are supposed to be very active animals. It's our DNA." Hunnam derives emotional stability and clarity from his fitness. "Sweating is how I change my oil every day. I just feel happier, more positive, energized, and disciplined if I work out." Ultimately, he says, "I train a lot every day because I'm ****ing crazy."
Check out the April issue of Men's Health for more with Charlie Hunnam.
Charlie Hunnam Talks Sex Appeal and Life After Sons of Anarchy with Roxane Gay
In person, Charlie Hunnam is pensive and brutally handsome, with a chiseled face and piercing eyes. He wears a dark blue cable-knit sweater over a white T-shirt and jeans, a nondescript choice, possibly on purpose. We meet in West Hollywood at one of his favorite haunts, Greenblatt’s Deli, and sit across from each other in the upstairs dining area. At a table just behind us, two men are talking, one so loudly it’s clear he wants everyone within earshot to know he has grand ambitions. He says he knows people in the business, and because we’re in Hollywood, I can only assume that he’s referring to show business.
Hunnam, on the other hand, does nothing to draw attention. As a reasonably successful actor and incredibly attractive man, he doesn’t need more notice than he already gets. He’s so suave and engaged throughout our conversation, I decide that either he’s being genuine or he’s an even better actor than I thought. The English accent also doesn’t hurt.
Certainly, we cover the expected subjects—the last book he really enjoyed (The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt), what he’s been cooking (shakshuka, which we both declare the new frittata), and the latest film to intrigue him (Moonlight, because he feels that it showed real restraint and respect for the audience). I learn that the 37-year-old practices jujitsu and watches MMA fighting and is really tired of answering questions about why he backed out of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise. (He told reporters in 2015 that he was essentially overbooked and overwhelmed.)
In FX’s Sons of Anarchy, which ran from 2008 through 2014, Hunnam played Jax Teller. As the brash but good-hearted leader of a motorcycle gang in the fictional town of Charming, Calif., Teller tried to understand his father’s legacy while raising a family, loving a woman not entirely thrilled with his gang activities, and dealing with a devious mother. There was a lot on Teller’s shoulders, and Hunnam—despite being born in the very non-biker-sounding Newcastle upon Tyne, in England—carried that burden well. Even three years later, the role still affects him. “[After the show ended] it was a painful process of what felt like real mourning, of grieving, to extricate him from my life,” he says. “I became very conscious of what a giant impact it had on me playing that guy—being with him for so long inside of me.”
With that career-making role behind him, Hunnam is thinking carefully about what’s next. He wants, in his words, to “change people’s perception of what I’m capable of.” This moment of insight intrigues me, so I ask Hunnam how he thinks he’s perceived. He’s quiet as he considers how to respond.
Eventually he says, “I try not to think about that too much because I’m just attempting to shape my own perception of myself and feel confident in my own identity. But people recognize that I have some real ability and have demonstrated that. There will probably be those that still relegate me to being a pretty boy.”
And there it is. It’s refreshing to hear him talk openly about his obvious physical beauty. Asked if being a sex symbol is ever limiting, Hunnam responds with considerable self-awareness. “It’s both collateral damage and a huge opportunity. I mean, it’s a visual medium, and it makes it a lot easier to get roles if you’re a little easier on the eyes. But the reality is you get on set and every scene is a challenge to make work.”
That’s certainly true of his upcoming roles. In this month’s The Lost City of Z, he portrays Colonel Percival Fawcett, the real life English explorer who in the 1920s was willing to sacrifice nearly everything, including his family, in his search for a fabled city in the Amazon. “I did the best work of my career so far in Lost City,” says Hunnam.
Then, in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, out in May, he takes on Guy Ritchie’s interpretation of the classic legend and plays Arthur like we’ve never seen: arrogant and reluctant, orphaned, hardened by a childhood living in a brothel and on the streets. Hunnam was drawn to the opportunity to render Arthur as a “rough-and-ready street kid who had this call, this duty, this destiny presented to him that he was not interested at all in pursuing.” More than that, though, he wanted to work with Ritchie, with whom he had a “veritable lovefest” when they first met.
Hunnam says being part of the storytelling process “totally nourishes” him, though he admits that transitioning back to real life can be tough. “It’s brutal. Reintegration is a motherf—. I keep thinking it’ll get easier, but it doesn’t. It’s really hard for my girlfriend [jewelry designer Morgana McNelis]. There’s all this expectation and longing and hope for what that reunion’s going to be. For me, it’s always a process of trying desperately to get back to center, so I can be that person for her.”
Just before Christmas of last year, he wrapped his next film, Papillon (a remake of 1973’s prison-escape drama with Hunnam in the role famously played by Steve McQueen), and McNelis gave him an ultimatum—do whatever you need to do, but don’t come home until you’re ready to see me. Hunnam took a trip back to England to decompress before returning to L.A., which gave him time to “exorcise the experience from my heart and soul” and reflect on “how fragile our connection is to anything.”
Our conversation is peppered with these heady asides. “I struggled through my childhood as a bit of a weird, existential kid,” he admits. “I was constantly preoccupied with trying to understand what it all meant.”
And now? “I’ve just grown up into a weird, existential adult,” he laughs
In person, Charlie Hunnam is pensive and brutally handsome, with a chiseled face and piercing eyes. He wears a dark blue cable-knit sweater over a white T-shirt and jeans, a nondescript choice, possibly on purpose. We meet in West Hollywood at one of his favorite haunts, Greenblatt’s Deli, and sit across from each other in the upstairs dining area. At a table just behind us, two men are talking, one so loudly it’s clear he wants everyone within earshot to know he has grand ambitions. He says he knows people in the business, and because we’re in Hollywood, I can only assume that he’s referring to show business.
Hunnam, on the other hand, does nothing to draw attention. As a reasonably successful actor and incredibly attractive man, he doesn’t need more notice than he already gets. He’s so suave and engaged throughout our conversation, I decide that either he’s being genuine or he’s an even better actor than I thought. The English accent also doesn’t hurt.
Certainly, we cover the expected subjects—the last book he really enjoyed (The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt), what he’s been cooking (shakshuka, which we both declare the new frittata), and the latest film to intrigue him (Moonlight, because he feels that it showed real restraint and respect for the audience). I learn that the 37-year-old practices jujitsu and watches MMA fighting and is really tired of answering questions about why he backed out of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise. (He told reporters in 2015 that he was essentially overbooked and overwhelmed.)
In FX’s Sons of Anarchy, which ran from 2008 through 2014, Hunnam played Jax Teller. As the brash but good-hearted leader of a motorcycle gang in the fictional town of Charming, Calif., Teller tried to understand his father’s legacy while raising a family, loving a woman not entirely thrilled with his gang activities, and dealing with a devious mother. There was a lot on Teller’s shoulders, and Hunnam—despite being born in the very non-biker-sounding Newcastle upon Tyne, in England—carried that burden well. Even three years later, the role still affects him. “[After the show ended] it was a painful process of what felt like real mourning, of grieving, to extricate him from my life,” he says. “I became very conscious of what a giant impact it had on me playing that guy—being with him for so long inside of me.”
With that career-making role behind him, Hunnam is thinking carefully about what’s next. He wants, in his words, to “change people’s perception of what I’m capable of.” This moment of insight intrigues me, so I ask Hunnam how he thinks he’s perceived. He’s quiet as he considers how to respond.
Eventually he says, “I try not to think about that too much because I’m just attempting to shape my own perception of myself and feel confident in my own identity. But people recognize that I have some real ability and have demonstrated that. There will probably be those that still relegate me to being a pretty boy.”
And there it is. It’s refreshing to hear him talk openly about his obvious physical beauty. Asked if being a sex symbol is ever limiting, Hunnam responds with considerable self-awareness. “It’s both collateral damage and a huge opportunity. I mean, it’s a visual medium, and it makes it a lot easier to get roles if you’re a little easier on the eyes. But the reality is you get on set and every scene is a challenge to make work.”
That’s certainly true of his upcoming roles. In this month’s The Lost City of Z, he portrays Colonel Percival Fawcett, the real life English explorer who in the 1920s was willing to sacrifice nearly everything, including his family, in his search for a fabled city in the Amazon. “I did the best work of my career so far in Lost City,” says Hunnam.
Then, in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, out in May, he takes on Guy Ritchie’s interpretation of the classic legend and plays Arthur like we’ve never seen: arrogant and reluctant, orphaned, hardened by a childhood living in a brothel and on the streets. Hunnam was drawn to the opportunity to render Arthur as a “rough-and-ready street kid who had this call, this duty, this destiny presented to him that he was not interested at all in pursuing.” More than that, though, he wanted to work with Ritchie, with whom he had a “veritable lovefest” when they first met.
Hunnam says being part of the storytelling process “totally nourishes” him, though he admits that transitioning back to real life can be tough. “It’s brutal. Reintegration is a motherf—. I keep thinking it’ll get easier, but it doesn’t. It’s really hard for my girlfriend [jewelry designer Morgana McNelis]. There’s all this expectation and longing and hope for what that reunion’s going to be. For me, it’s always a process of trying desperately to get back to center, so I can be that person for her.”
Just before Christmas of last year, he wrapped his next film, Papillon (a remake of 1973’s prison-escape drama with Hunnam in the role famously played by Steve McQueen), and McNelis gave him an ultimatum—do whatever you need to do, but don’t come home until you’re ready to see me. Hunnam took a trip back to England to decompress before returning to L.A., which gave him time to “exorcise the experience from my heart and soul” and reflect on “how fragile our connection is to anything.”
Our conversation is peppered with these heady asides. “I struggled through my childhood as a bit of a weird, existential kid,” he admits. “I was constantly preoccupied with trying to understand what it all meant.”
And now? “I’ve just grown up into a weird, existential adult,” he laughs
Charlie Hunnam: 'My girlfriend thought it was romantic to go camping... but we got lost for four days'
Charlie Hunnam, the actor who turned down the Christian Grey role in Fifty Shades, tells Gemma Dunn he's no action hero despite his latest movie about explorer Percy Fawcett, which was partly shot in Northern Ireland.
Charlie Hunnam is recalling a time when he embarked on a camping trip - sans mobile phone - with his long-term girlfriend, jewellery designer Morgana McNelis.
"We went into a big wilderness area in California called Kings Canyon", begins the 36-year-old actor. "I didn't take my phone with me and she kept saying, 'Oh it's going to be so romantic', and I said, 'It's not romantic, it's adventure, it's survival'.
"We were going out into the wilderness for seven days," he reports, animatedly. "And just three days in, we got horribly lost - and were completely lost for four days.
"I was feeling fairly confident two days in; by the third day I started to panic a little bit, and by the fourth, having no idea where we were and seeing no trace of humanity, I started to think, 'Maybe I should have brought my mobile phone'."
Holed up in a hotel room, Hunnam - best known as the fearless Jax Teller in the hit FX series Sons Of Anarchy - isn't casually reeling off past misadventures.
His admission is in light of his latest role in director James Gray's stirring big-screen tribute, The Lost City Of Z, partly filmed in Northern Ireland.
Swapping his motorbike leathers for camo chic, he leads the incredible true story of UK explorer Percy Fawcett, who journeyed into the Amazon at the dawn of the 20th century and discovered evidence of a previously unknown, and advanced, civilisation.
Despite being ridiculed by the scientific establishment, the adventurer - supported by his devoted wife (Sienna Miller), son (Tom Holland) and aide-de-camp (Robert Pattinson) - returned time and again to his beloved jungle in an attempt to prove his case, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in 1925.
Epicly scaled and multi-faceted, the drama - based on David Grann's non-fiction bestseller of the same name - provided the change of pace Hunnam needed.
"I've been really lucky, particularly in the last few years, that I've been getting offered lots of diverse and really interesting things", notes the actor, whose previous credits include Guillermo del Toro's films Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak.
He also famously backed out of playing BDSM heart-throb Christian Grey in the film adaptation of 50 Shades Of Grey, which then went to Holywood-born actor Jamie Dornan.
He adds, though, this movie was about the acting rather than the great outdoors. "More than specifically looking for an adventure story per se, I was eager to work with a high-level director and work on a character that was really complex.
"When I read the script, it did strike me as possibly the best opportunity I'd gotten in my career so far. Just because of the depth, sophistication and complexity of what we were trying to say with this film - and the breadth of time period. Getting to play 30 years of a man's life was a great challenge", admits Hunnam, whose character starts off in his early-30s but is almost 60 by the end of the movie. "It felt like it was an opportunity to stretch myself and put everything I'd spent 20 years learning as an actor into play."
In particular, the handsome Geordie (his Northern accent barely detectable), who's dressed today in a more practical jeans and blue shirt combo, welcomed the great responsibility of playing a real-life figure.
To prepare, he visited the Royal Geographical Society, where he pored over letters between Fawcett and his wife Nina.
He also insisted on wearing an exact replica of Fawcett's ring.
"There's a museum in Brighton that has some of Fawcett's artefacts", he explains. "They were going to take photographs and create something similar and I said, 'No, no, no, we've gotta go down to the museum and take an impression of the actual ring, make a cast and re-create it in gold'.
"I get a little obsessed about these things, but it's significant for me because Fawcett was wearing this ring when he disappeared", says Hunnam, who lost around 60 pounds for the part. "Several years later, it appeared in a pawn shop, so that obviously added to the mystery."
It's fair to say the voyager's fearlessness rubbed off on him too.
"I loved being there", he says of spending six weeks in Colombia's inhospitable rainforest, despite dishing the details of a hospital trip and course of antibiotics after a beetle bit a hole in his eardrum. "I'm much more fearful walking through Newcastle on a Saturday night at three o'clock in the morning", he quips, laughing wildly.
A great fan of the outdoors, he adds: "Most of us live in an environment where the most we get to see is a park and a couple of birds in the trees, so to be in a place that was just so filled with life - spiders, snakes, birds, monkeys and caiman and all manner of animals - was a pretty amazing experience."
He's quick to confess he wasn't always so adventurous. "I remember being a kid and being consumed with fear," he divulges. "I was afraid of everything, and I think I've definitely cultivated over many years, a higher threshold for fear."
Hunnam, whose TV career began in children's classic Byker Grove and Channel 4 drama Queer As Folk, is now based in Los Angeles, where he's lived since relocating 17 years ago.
"You know, I missed it (the UK) for a long time, when I was sort of married to LA while I was doing a TV show (Sons Of Anarchy)", he confides. "Now I spend probably about a third of my time here, but I prefer being here on my own time (not working), when I get to see my friends and my family."
Next up, Hunnam will star in Michael Noer's remake of 1973 American prison film, Papillon, plus Guy Ritchie's epic adventure-drama King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, in which he plays the titular lead, released in May.
While he has no reservations about embarking on more action roles, with past (camping) escapades in mind, will his girlfriend have something to say?
"She worries, because she knows I can get a bit crazy and put myself into situations that I'm probably often not equipped to handle", Hunnam admits with a smile.
"But I usually find my way through. And I'm still alive, so..."
Charlie Hunnam, the actor who turned down the Christian Grey role in Fifty Shades, tells Gemma Dunn he's no action hero despite his latest movie about explorer Percy Fawcett, which was partly shot in Northern Ireland.
Charlie Hunnam is recalling a time when he embarked on a camping trip - sans mobile phone - with his long-term girlfriend, jewellery designer Morgana McNelis.
"We went into a big wilderness area in California called Kings Canyon", begins the 36-year-old actor. "I didn't take my phone with me and she kept saying, 'Oh it's going to be so romantic', and I said, 'It's not romantic, it's adventure, it's survival'.
"We were going out into the wilderness for seven days," he reports, animatedly. "And just three days in, we got horribly lost - and were completely lost for four days.
"I was feeling fairly confident two days in; by the third day I started to panic a little bit, and by the fourth, having no idea where we were and seeing no trace of humanity, I started to think, 'Maybe I should have brought my mobile phone'."
Holed up in a hotel room, Hunnam - best known as the fearless Jax Teller in the hit FX series Sons Of Anarchy - isn't casually reeling off past misadventures.
His admission is in light of his latest role in director James Gray's stirring big-screen tribute, The Lost City Of Z, partly filmed in Northern Ireland.
Swapping his motorbike leathers for camo chic, he leads the incredible true story of UK explorer Percy Fawcett, who journeyed into the Amazon at the dawn of the 20th century and discovered evidence of a previously unknown, and advanced, civilisation.
Despite being ridiculed by the scientific establishment, the adventurer - supported by his devoted wife (Sienna Miller), son (Tom Holland) and aide-de-camp (Robert Pattinson) - returned time and again to his beloved jungle in an attempt to prove his case, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in 1925.
Epicly scaled and multi-faceted, the drama - based on David Grann's non-fiction bestseller of the same name - provided the change of pace Hunnam needed.
"I've been really lucky, particularly in the last few years, that I've been getting offered lots of diverse and really interesting things", notes the actor, whose previous credits include Guillermo del Toro's films Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak.
He also famously backed out of playing BDSM heart-throb Christian Grey in the film adaptation of 50 Shades Of Grey, which then went to Holywood-born actor Jamie Dornan.
He adds, though, this movie was about the acting rather than the great outdoors. "More than specifically looking for an adventure story per se, I was eager to work with a high-level director and work on a character that was really complex.
"When I read the script, it did strike me as possibly the best opportunity I'd gotten in my career so far. Just because of the depth, sophistication and complexity of what we were trying to say with this film - and the breadth of time period. Getting to play 30 years of a man's life was a great challenge", admits Hunnam, whose character starts off in his early-30s but is almost 60 by the end of the movie. "It felt like it was an opportunity to stretch myself and put everything I'd spent 20 years learning as an actor into play."
In particular, the handsome Geordie (his Northern accent barely detectable), who's dressed today in a more practical jeans and blue shirt combo, welcomed the great responsibility of playing a real-life figure.
To prepare, he visited the Royal Geographical Society, where he pored over letters between Fawcett and his wife Nina.
He also insisted on wearing an exact replica of Fawcett's ring.
"There's a museum in Brighton that has some of Fawcett's artefacts", he explains. "They were going to take photographs and create something similar and I said, 'No, no, no, we've gotta go down to the museum and take an impression of the actual ring, make a cast and re-create it in gold'.
"I get a little obsessed about these things, but it's significant for me because Fawcett was wearing this ring when he disappeared", says Hunnam, who lost around 60 pounds for the part. "Several years later, it appeared in a pawn shop, so that obviously added to the mystery."
It's fair to say the voyager's fearlessness rubbed off on him too.
"I loved being there", he says of spending six weeks in Colombia's inhospitable rainforest, despite dishing the details of a hospital trip and course of antibiotics after a beetle bit a hole in his eardrum. "I'm much more fearful walking through Newcastle on a Saturday night at three o'clock in the morning", he quips, laughing wildly.
A great fan of the outdoors, he adds: "Most of us live in an environment where the most we get to see is a park and a couple of birds in the trees, so to be in a place that was just so filled with life - spiders, snakes, birds, monkeys and caiman and all manner of animals - was a pretty amazing experience."
He's quick to confess he wasn't always so adventurous. "I remember being a kid and being consumed with fear," he divulges. "I was afraid of everything, and I think I've definitely cultivated over many years, a higher threshold for fear."
Hunnam, whose TV career began in children's classic Byker Grove and Channel 4 drama Queer As Folk, is now based in Los Angeles, where he's lived since relocating 17 years ago.
"You know, I missed it (the UK) for a long time, when I was sort of married to LA while I was doing a TV show (Sons Of Anarchy)", he confides. "Now I spend probably about a third of my time here, but I prefer being here on my own time (not working), when I get to see my friends and my family."
Next up, Hunnam will star in Michael Noer's remake of 1973 American prison film, Papillon, plus Guy Ritchie's epic adventure-drama King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, in which he plays the titular lead, released in May.
While he has no reservations about embarking on more action roles, with past (camping) escapades in mind, will his girlfriend have something to say?
"She worries, because she knows I can get a bit crazy and put myself into situations that I'm probably often not equipped to handle", Hunnam admits with a smile.
"But I usually find my way through. And I'm still alive, so..."
Last edited:
'I don't want to kiss anyone but my girlfriend': Self-confessed germaphobe Charlie Hunnam reveals he hates filming sex scenes
It's a good thing Charlie Hunnam missed out on the lead role in Fifty Shades Of Grey after all, because the hunky actor says he hates filming sex scenes.
In an interview with ELLE magazine this month, the British actor admitted a long-running fear of germs has caused him to dread kissing scenes.
'When I was maybe eight or nine, there was a parasite from dogs in the north of England that, if you ingested it, could turn you blind,' he explained.
'We had a thing in schools to educate the kids about the importance of hygiene, specifically around dogs, because we had a few kids who went blind,' he added.
'That horrified me. The point is, everyone thinks it's great to be an actor and get to kiss a bunch of beautiful actresses in films, but I actually hate it.'
Charlie, who has been dating jewelry designer Morgana McNelis since 2007, says making out with other actresses onscreen is especially hard when you're in a committed relationship.
'I've been profoundly germophobic since I was a young child. I don't want to kiss anyone but my girlfriend for my whole life,' he confessed.
And sex scenes are especially uncomfortable for the 36-year-old.
'I try to be sensitive to the fact that we're doing something intimate, but also keep a clear boundary. Because I'm in a very committed relationship, and I'm also cognizant that it's not my girlfriend's favorite part of my job,' he added.
'It's a delicate balance to strike - to be emotionally open enough to have an experience that feels honest between two people but also maintain that it's just for the film. It's not my favorite thing to do.'
So it was perhaps a blessing in disguise that last minute casting changes saw the lead of Christian in Fifty Shades Of Grey go to Irish actor Jamie Dornan, 34, instead.
Not that the former Sons Of Anarchy star sees it that way, admitting he still can't bring himself to watch the films.
'I developed a friendship with [director Sam Taylor-Johnson], but that was a somewhat traumatic experience for me,' he confessed. 'I didn't want to open that wound.'
It's a good thing Charlie Hunnam missed out on the lead role in Fifty Shades Of Grey after all, because the hunky actor says he hates filming sex scenes.
In an interview with ELLE magazine this month, the British actor admitted a long-running fear of germs has caused him to dread kissing scenes.
'When I was maybe eight or nine, there was a parasite from dogs in the north of England that, if you ingested it, could turn you blind,' he explained.
'We had a thing in schools to educate the kids about the importance of hygiene, specifically around dogs, because we had a few kids who went blind,' he added.
'That horrified me. The point is, everyone thinks it's great to be an actor and get to kiss a bunch of beautiful actresses in films, but I actually hate it.'
Charlie, who has been dating jewelry designer Morgana McNelis since 2007, says making out with other actresses onscreen is especially hard when you're in a committed relationship.
'I've been profoundly germophobic since I was a young child. I don't want to kiss anyone but my girlfriend for my whole life,' he confessed.
And sex scenes are especially uncomfortable for the 36-year-old.
'I try to be sensitive to the fact that we're doing something intimate, but also keep a clear boundary. Because I'm in a very committed relationship, and I'm also cognizant that it's not my girlfriend's favorite part of my job,' he added.
'It's a delicate balance to strike - to be emotionally open enough to have an experience that feels honest between two people but also maintain that it's just for the film. It's not my favorite thing to do.'
So it was perhaps a blessing in disguise that last minute casting changes saw the lead of Christian in Fifty Shades Of Grey go to Irish actor Jamie Dornan, 34, instead.
Not that the former Sons Of Anarchy star sees it that way, admitting he still can't bring himself to watch the films.
'I developed a friendship with [director Sam Taylor-Johnson], but that was a somewhat traumatic experience for me,' he confessed. 'I didn't want to open that wound.'
Charlie Hunnam's style icon is his 'super sharp' dad
Charlie Hunnam inherited his love of tailoring and gold jewellery from his "super sharp" father.
The Sons of Anarchy actor always polishes up well for red carpet events, opting for a navy Burberry ensemble at the recent London premiere of The Lost City of Z. Discussing his style influences, Charlie named his dad William as someone who had a huge impact on him growing up.
"My clothing influence was my dad," the 36-year-old told Britain's Shortlist magazine. "He was a super sharp dresser. He was a scrap metal man, so he had shabby work clothes... But whenever he left the house, even if only going for a pint on a Saturday afternoon, he always wore a beautiful tailored suit, and a lot of gold. Scrap men like a lot of gold, and I definitely inherited that from my old man."
Charlie is rarely seen in smart attire in front of the camera for work, previously donning biker gear in TV show Sons of Anarchy while his upcoming project King Arthur: Legend of the Sword sees him in medieval get-up. He hopes one day he can get "dolled up and look very suave" for a role, though admits that chance hasn't come his way yet.
The handsome star previously dabbled in modelling when he was younger after being scouted when clothes shopping with his mum Jane. Asked if it was gratifying being plucked out of the crowd, Charlie noted it was a big confidence booster, although he found it didn't match the expectations he had of the industry.
"I only did two jobs... (One) was a Wall's ice cream ad," he recalled. "It was just me and a girl in a park licking ice cream, but it took five hours. When you're 17, it sounds like a good job, until you're on your fifth ice cream and you want to puke. I left with a terrible stomach ache - it wasn't exactly the glamour I expected."
Charlie Hunnam inherited his love of tailoring and gold jewellery from his "super sharp" father.
The Sons of Anarchy actor always polishes up well for red carpet events, opting for a navy Burberry ensemble at the recent London premiere of The Lost City of Z. Discussing his style influences, Charlie named his dad William as someone who had a huge impact on him growing up.
"My clothing influence was my dad," the 36-year-old told Britain's Shortlist magazine. "He was a super sharp dresser. He was a scrap metal man, so he had shabby work clothes... But whenever he left the house, even if only going for a pint on a Saturday afternoon, he always wore a beautiful tailored suit, and a lot of gold. Scrap men like a lot of gold, and I definitely inherited that from my old man."
Charlie is rarely seen in smart attire in front of the camera for work, previously donning biker gear in TV show Sons of Anarchy while his upcoming project King Arthur: Legend of the Sword sees him in medieval get-up. He hopes one day he can get "dolled up and look very suave" for a role, though admits that chance hasn't come his way yet.
The handsome star previously dabbled in modelling when he was younger after being scouted when clothes shopping with his mum Jane. Asked if it was gratifying being plucked out of the crowd, Charlie noted it was a big confidence booster, although he found it didn't match the expectations he had of the industry.
"I only did two jobs... (One) was a Wall's ice cream ad," he recalled. "It was just me and a girl in a park licking ice cream, but it took five hours. When you're 17, it sounds like a good job, until you're on your fifth ice cream and you want to puke. I left with a terrible stomach ache - it wasn't exactly the glamour I expected."
