For all those firm believers out there that things happen for a reason, it's worth noting that Charlie Hunnam was never going to take the role of Christan Grey in the first place.
The actor made international headlines when he landed the salacious "Fifty Shades of Grey" role last summer, and even more when he dropped out two months later. At the time the "Sons of Anarchy" star steered clear of the media frenzy surrounding the departure, but now - a year later - he's finally ready to talk about what actually happened.
"I wouldn't have signed up in the first place if I didn't want to do it," he explains. "It was a really, really difficult time in my life."
Hunnam reveals that when he met with film director Sam Taylor-Johnson he only went because he just wanted to meet her and was intrigued by her as a "super cool artist." He was up-front from the get-go about his availability, in that he had none.
"And then I just fell in love, creatively," Hunnam says. "I started talking about this thing and I just got so excited. I fell in love with the character and started seeing him and becoming intoxicated, which is the way I work: I find a character I love and I start thinking about it all the time."
Then it all blew up.
Shortly after accepting the role, production on the sixth season of "Sons of Anarchy" wound up, going later than originally anticipated. Hunnam had already been stretched thin thanks to his commitment to shoot Guillermo del Toro's "Crimson Peak" in Toronto during his hiatus, a schedule that was crafted by the notorious writer and director to personally accommodate Hunnam's commitment to the FX series. It was at that point that the actor started to look at "the black and white" of the scheduling and knew something had to give.
"I was going to finish 'Sons' at like 11 p.m. Friday night, get on the plane Saturday morning to Vancouver for 'Fifty,' missing the whole first week of rehearsal and start shooting Monday morning. And I was going to shoot that film, wrap that on the Wednesday and the following Monday I was going to start shooting 'Crimson Peak' in Toronto. I just had like ... frankly, something of a nervous breakdown."
In the two months between "Fifty"s casting announcement and Hunnam dropping out, he realized the magnitude of the role he had committed to, especially with online petitions popping up from rabid fans protesting his casting and everyone wanting to talk to the star about the sexy role.
"I just said, 'I can't ... I can't ...,'" he remembers. "To fail on such a grand scale - because 'Fifty's going to be massive, it's going to be huge. I really didn't want to fail on such a grand scale and I just couldn't transition from Jax Teller to Christian Grey in 48 hours. I bit off more than I could chew and it was painful. I loved the character and I wanted to do it."
Going back on his word was equally painful for Hunnam, who commits to being a man of his word and says that if he promises to do something, you can "take it to the bank" that it's going to get done. Not being able to follow through in this case took everything out of him.
"It was just a s**t situation," he concludes. "I was really, really, sorry to do it. It was one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't situations."
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