Charlie Hunnam is opening up, again, about bailing on the role of Christian Grey in next year’s film adaptation of author E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey.
But first, he’s posing on Men’s Health’s December 2014 cover, and he’s hot:
When Hunnam isn’t focusing on fitness, which he clearly does, he dedicates himself to Sons of Anarchy, the hit show currently in its seventh season on FX.
It was Sons, nothing more, that made him decide to quit Fifty Shades of Grey.
Just as production began, Hunnam bailed, effectively making his Christian Grey replacement, Jamie Dornan, one of the most talked-about new actors around.
You won’t see him in Fifty Shades, and the man you’ll see tonight on Sons of Anarchy Season 7 Episode 10 could not reconcile playing both characters.
“I was going to finish playing a psychopath who’d just lost his wife [in Sons of Anarchy], and five days later I’d be on set playing Christian Grey,” he recalls.
“I was like, ‘This is going to be a f–king disaster,'” Hunnam recalls.
“It was the opposite of how I’ve tried to ground my career, not stretch myself too thin. There’s a tendency in this Hollywood machinery to take on too much.”
“You end up not being able to give everything you want.”
What do you think? Did Charlie make the right call?
He doesn’t regret his decision at all, he says, though he admits he was fully invested in the character and will always wish he could have played the part.
As for Dornan, he’s very much on board with it.
You’ll be able to see him in the new Fifty Shades of Grey trailer, debuting Thursday night. Hopefully Dakota Johnson manages to come off sexy this time.