Charlie Hunnam Doesn’t Like to Do Bed Scenes and Only Wants to Kiss the Woman He’s Been With for More Than 15 Years
Actor Charlie Hunnam is best known for starring in the series Sons of Anarchy and Shantaram, and also for his collaboration with film director Guy Ritchie. He starred in the newest screen adaptation of the legends about King Arthur and the criminal comedy The Gentlemen. But very few people know that he was an inch away from playing Christian in Fifty Shades of Grey. We would like to tell you about the actor’s career and his personal life.
He was discovered at a shoe store.
Charles Matthew Hunnam was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in Great Britain. At 12, he moved together with his family to the county of Cumbria, where he attended Cumbria College of Art and Design and graduated with a dual degree in film theory and film history. At the time, Charlie didn’t plan to be an actor. He wanted to write screenplays and direct his own movies.
Charlie became an actor by accident. When he was 17, he went together with his friend to buy shoes on Christmas Eve. They were fooling around and running around the store when they were noticed by a production manager for the Newcastle-based teen drama Byker Grove. Charlie winked at her and sent her a kiss. The manager got interested in him and offered him to play Jason on 3 episodes of the show.
He rose to fame thanks to Sons of Anarchy.
After Byker Grove, Hunnam played a schoolboy named Nathan Maloney in the TV drama Queer as Folk and Daz in the film Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?. Also, the aspiring actor appeared in the movies Abandon (2002), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), and Cold Mountain (2003). But none of these roles became his breakthrough.
In 2005, Charlie landed the lead role of Pete Dunham in the movie Green Street Hooligans. Thanks to this project, he was noticed by film director Kurt Sutter who invited him to play in his new show Sons of Anarchy. Charlie played the role of Jackson “Jax” Teller, the leader of a prominent motorcycle club, from 2008 to 2014. This role earned him the love of the audience, recognition from critics, and 3 nominations for the Critics’ Choice Television Award, EWwy Award, and PAAFTJ Award.
He was supposed to play Christian Grey but refused.
While filming Sons of Anarchy, Charlie landed the role of Christian Grey in the screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. He even did a reading with his potential partner Dakota Johnson, but eventually turned the role down. According to the official statement, Hunnam refused because of conflicts with the schedule of his series Sons of Anarchy. But sources close to the actor say that Hunnam observed the way Robert Pattinson’s career developed after playing in The Twilight Saga and decided that he didn’t want the attention that would come along with taking on this role.
He was worried about what his girlfriend would feel if she saw him in bed scenes.
But there is a possibility that his busy schedule and career ambitions were not the only reasons why Charlie turned down the role of Christian Grey. While preparing for the role in Fifty Shades of Grey, he had already been in a relationship with his girlfriend Morgana McNelis for 6 years.
Even though Morgana was a fan of E. L. James’ books and supported her boyfriend, his new work concerned her. Charlie commented on this, “It’s very hard to be with an actor. She’s required to share parts of me that she wouldn’t really want to share, of course. And with the certain nature of this role, it’s going to be times 10.” Perhaps, the actor decided to spare his girlfriend’s feelings.
He is building a successful career and writes screenplays during his free time.
His next career stage is associated with his collaboration with film director Guy Ritchie. First, Charlie played the lead role in the action-adventure movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). And 2 years later, he starred alongside Matthew McConaughey in The Gentlemen.
Now Charlie Hunnam can be seen in the series Shantaram, the screen adaptation of Gregory David Roberts’ novel of the same name. The actor plays the role of Lindsay Ford, a bank robber from Australia who flees the country to India. But even though Hunnam has a very successful career, he doesn’t forget his initial dream. Before getting cast in Sons of Anarchy, Hunnam sold his screenplay Vlad to Summit Entertainment which focused on the real-life story of Vlad the Impaler — Dracula prototype. Charlie learned about it from the locals in Romania while shooting Cold Mountain.
He hates to kiss on screen because of his phobia of germs.
Charlie Hunnam loves everything about his job, except for bed scenes. He says he’s a germaphobe and has had this phobia since childhood. At school, he learned about a parasite that could make you blind, and since then, hygiene has become one of his priorities. Charlie never said it, but perhaps he felt so much better after turning down the role in Fifty Shades of Grey because most parts of this movie consisted of bed scenes.
His obsession with cleanliness played a cruel joke on him when he came to India to film Shantaram. The actor believes that his excessive hygiene made his immune system too delicate, which led to a series of pretty significant health issues. So, during the shoot, Hunnam got infected with various diseases, which affected his eyes, throat, and digestive system. Luckily, he managed to recover, but it seems that he had to reconsider his approach to hygiene.
He’s been dating his girlfriend for more than 15 years.
Charlie Hunnam plays different characters on screen, but in real life, he’s seemingly not fond of changes. He’s been in a relationship with jewelry designer Morgana McNelis since 2005. They live on a ranch in California and raise chickens, ducks, and donkeys. They also tend a garden and enjoy countryside life.
Unlike Charlie, Morgana tries to stay away from the spotlight. She even kept her relationship with Hunnam secret for some time. But when their romance went public, some fans reacted negatively and began to write bad things on her social media, where she promoted her jewelry brand. Charlie quickly came to the defense of his girlfriend and asked fans to stop harassing her.
He’s skeptical about marriage.
Despite their long relationship, Charlie and Morgana are not married. The actor once revealed that his girlfriend wants to marry him, but he’s not really fond of this idea. He believes they are already married, and he doesn’t need ceremonies to prove it. However, since it’s important for Morgana, he says that he will eventually do it.
What is your favorite movie starring Charlie Hunnam?