Charlie Hunnam
“The first job was a gift, and then the universe was like, ‘okay, you got to work for the rest”
Charlie Hunnam’s career has taken him from a walk-on part as a teenage boytoy in Queer as Folk to riding a mythical motorcycle gang called the Sons Of Anarchy into syndication. Mr. Hunnam got his start in Hollywood by making a deal with the universe and, of course, an agent. “I randomly got myself an acting job, so I went to my agent and said, ‘I just got this job, and seeing as you are my agent I’ll give you my commission so you should start sending me out,’ and they were like ‘right’. So they did. And I was like, ‘man Hollywood is so easy.’ What I didn’t know was that nothing would happen for five years after that. The first job was a gift, and then the universe was like, ‘okay, you got to work for the rest.”
“I have a really hard time with the modern-world disposable-everything, including entertainment. This is what I spend my life doing, and so I have to believe that film matters.”
It’s not that the universe wasn’t offering Charlie Hunnam roles. He was married to the daughter of famous producer Robert Towne, eating dinner at Madonna’s house and having pool parties with Seth Rogen. People were definitely handing him scripts. It’s just that Charlie wasn’t into them. “I have a really hard time with the modern-world disposable-everything, including entertainment. This is what I spend my life doing, and so I have to believe that film matters.”
Mr. Hunnam’s discipline is proven by a spotless resume of distinctive performances like the psychopathic white dread in Children of Men the Evil Albino of Cold Mountain. It seems that Charlie Hunnam hasn’t picked a bad role yet. Imagine a young Brad Pitt without the Seven Years in Tibet. The quality of his work has producers like Don Murphy (Natural Born Killers, Transformers) gushing about how Hunnam is the “most underrated actor in Hollywood.”
One way or the other that’s going to change this July as Charlie’s name is above the title in a big budget movie directed by Guillermo del Toro called Pacific Rim. It took 159 days to shoot the effects heavy robots-versus-alien action thriller. So, this year alone, Charlie spent five months driving a robot after shooting an entire season of television. Add it up. That’s ten months of call times and craft service food.”
“I think the thing I have to offer most is a strong work ethic.” Charlie’s the kind of actor who is at the boxing gym, seven days a week for five weeks, just so he can feel like a guy who quit boxing for his role in Deadfall. There’s also the fact that he has infiltrated no less than two violently exclusive organizations as research for his roles.”
“That’s the one thing about Hollywood — the access. I mean, as research for Green Street Hooligans I hung with The Firm, man.” Charlie is referring to West Ham’s Inter City Firm, whose members are notorious for ensuring that English football racks up as many head injuries in the stands as the American version does on the field. Charlie also got to ride around with an “unnamed northern California motorcycle club” to get into character for Sons Of Anarchy.”
“If it’s good then it’s good, if not then I chuck it and go on.”
“Riding around with hooligans and thugs didn’t keep him busy enough, so Charlie wrote a script about Vlad the Impaler, good enough to have been seconded by Brad Pitt himself. But that was last year. The script he’s working on now is about an American who, after a brief stint in jail, ends up running the third biggest Mexican cartel from a south Texas trailer park. “I’m drawn to stories that are about men dancing on the wrong side of the law, that have relatable problems and who are trying to figure it out.”
Charlie Hunnam’s big dream now is to direct a small film in England for “no money at all” starring Sons Of Anarchy co-star Tommy Flanagan. Despite his successes Charlie is careful not to sound too optimistic about starting his directing career. “If it’s good then it’s good, if not then I chuck it and go on. There’s part of me that yearns to go back to the motherland and grow some English vegetables.”
