Clutch & Chrome Explores Charlie’s Work
“Charlie Hunnam: Motorcycle gangs and vampires”
As actor Charlie Hunnam continues to ride into the hearts of more and more fans playing Jax in FX’s motorcycle drama Sons of Anarchy, Clutch and Chrome decided to take a closer look at the newest biker on the TV block.
Coincidences not only add interesting footnotes to history but also seem to weave their way in and out of life in a curious fashion.
Take the star of FX’s motorcycle drama ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Charlie Hunnam, who was discovered while clowning around in a shoe store by a production manager for a British Children’s show. The show, Byker Grove would soon give Charlie the needed acting break and while not actually about motorcycles, the play on words is an interesting irony to an equally intriguing career.
Gaining fans both inside the entertainment industry as well as with the viewing public throughout his career, the leading role in Sons of Anarchy, a FX drama about a motorcycle gang has propelled him to new celebrity heights.
Noelia, who has run a Charlie Hunnam fan site since 2001 noticed a swell of interest when the gritty motorcycle drama hit the small screens in September 2008, “Since Charlie started working in SOA [Sons of Anarchy], I noticed a HUGE fan base, all interested about him in this new world.”
Charlie Hunnam was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, a city in the Northeast of England on April 10th 1980, and the story of a foreign actor to not only take a lead role on an American television show but also use it as a road to stardom is not necessarily an unusual one. Hugh Laurie was a well known comedic actor to British audiences for decades, but American viewers were first exposed to him as the cantankerous Dr. Gregory House on FOX’s ‘House’ without his English accent. Amusingly, both play characters who ride motorcycles.
It was however, a bold move by the producers of Sons of Anarchy to put a relatively unknown British actor among a sea of famous actors such as Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal and Mitch Pileggi in an extreme role of outlaw motorcycle gang member and surely Charlie Hunnam welcomed such an unusual move.
“I have 60 years to make the money, but the choices I make in the next five years are really going to define my career,” Charlie was quoted as saying once, and those choices have certainly been interesting.
Soon after his appearance in three episodes of Byker Grove, Charlie was offered the role of Nathan Maloney in a British television production ‘Queer as Folk’, a drama about three gay men living in Manchester and so began his career of playing colorful if not quirky characters.
Charlie’s character of a self-confident fifteen-year-old boy entering the gay society soon became one of the main reasons the series created a stir in England. Many conservative politicians and viewers were shocked at the frank language as well as the depiction of a 15-year-old engaging in illegal homosexual acts with an older man.
Sex scenes were explicitly depicted placing the show on late at night and losing its largest sponsor, a well known British beer company. Regardless of all the obstacles, the show became a huge success and the public demanded a second season, but unfortunately for the cast and crew of ‘Queer as folk’ the shows writer Russell T. Davies felt the story had been told. Consequently only two additional specials were ever produced.
The short run of an obviously promising television show may have stayed with Charlie years later when considering Sons of Anarchy. Although focused on working in film, negotiations had become concrete enough for a conversation between Charlie and the series producer and writer Kurt Sutter.
“And I just said, you know look, man, as long as the quality stays the same, I would be happy to do this for 15 years,” he explained during an interview in October 2008, “So you know we kind of – he made a deal with me that he was definitely not going to go anywhere or turn the show over to anyone and would continue to be writing to try to match the same quality through the course of the show.”
In between the first series and the two additional specials of ‘Queer as Folk’, Hunnam co-starred as a young anarchist in ‘What ever happened to Harold Smith?’ and soon decided to move to Los Angeles, packing his eclectic choice of roles and taking it to America with him.
Appearing in television shows with guest appearances and leading roles in WB’s ‘Young Americans’ and Fox’s ‘Undeclared’, Charlie couldn’t find any ongoing success despite critical acclaim especially for the Fox series.
He went onto to star in notable movies with a lead role in the classic British tale of ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ (pictured left) and a smaller part in the Oscar winning ‘Cold Mountain’ before gaining attention for his role in ‘Green Street Hooligans’.
Set in the world of fanatical British football fans (some say hooligans) and co-starring Elijah Wood the movie found success worldwide despite its violence and graphic language.
As for ‘Cold Mountain’, it followed his personal philosophy, “I always think it’s better to take a smaller role in a great film rather than a leading role in something that you don’t have complete faith in,” he has said.
While Hunnam’s next role continued the trend of violent, out of control characters it also introduced him to the world of two-wheels. It was on the set of ‘Children of Men’ that Charlie Hunnam learned to ride a motorcycle for scenes depicting his character of Patric, a member of the “The Fishes” who rode a dirt bike during the movie.
“I’d done you know only dirt bikes – not out of kind of desire to ride to myself, but you know through professional obligations I’d ridden on Children of Men. I had to ride a dirt bike on that. So that’s where my dirt bike you know introduction came from, but I’d always been much more interested in big dogs.”
At the time ‘Children of Men’ was released Charlie said his role in the movie was the final part in his ‘trilogy of mad men’, “I played the psycho in Cold Mountain, my character in Green Street (pictured right with co-star Elijah Wood) is fairly psychotic and now I’ve got this role.”
With the advantage of retrospect it could be said many of his previous roles were preparing Hunnam for the violent world motorcycle gangs live in, with the personal daring and confidence to lead one. But how close is Charlie Hunnam to the wild characters he plays on the screen?
“I very, very rarely leave my house, but I have a great social life. I hang out with my friends, and I basically am very, very driven to work,” he told a reporter, “I read everything that comes through the agency, like ten scripts a week.”
Since his passion has been for film work most of those are movie scripts, but after an insistent agent Sons of Anarchy made it to the reading pile.
“I took a look at it and just thought the quality of the writing was just as good as the majority of screen plays that I’d been reading. I just got very excited about the whole thing. I thought that it was such a seldom-explored world, the world of outlaw motorcycle clubs and it wasn’t a world that I was particularly familiar with, but instantly got very interested in,” Charlie noted.
It’s not just fictitious motorcycle gangs keeping Charlie busy. In between filming ‘Children of Men’ and ‘Sons of Anarchy’ he wrote and sold his film, ‘Vlad’, the project currently at Summit Entertainment with Eric Feig and Plan B producing it.
“It’s based on the true story of Vlad the Impaler, Charlie explains, “You know the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a 15th century king living in Wallachia, which is one of the principalities of present day Romania. And it’s all about the Last Crusade and him opposing the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.”
Already halfway through the second draft of another script, Hunnam’s working on a starting a third project, “So whether I’m acting or writing, I’m going to keep myself busy,” he says.
Bearing in mind Charlie Hunnam is an English person playing an American motorcycle gang member, the accent itself is adding work other actors don’t have to face.
“It’s something that I always felt confident that I could do you know given the right environment,” he says, “You know it’s just a process.”
Speaking about his current project, Sons of Anarchy, ”I have to go home and do two and a half to three hours work because I look over everything and then you know have to run the scenes a lot and figure out the right ways – you know the ways to deliver it all in the American dialect. And then if I have any problems with that, I call my dialect coach and she’ll talk me through some difficult sound combinations and stuff.”
“Because I’ve traveled around so much [my accent] doesn’t really exist anywhere in the world. It’s a big mixture of both northern and southern English and then a lot of California. So generally no matter what project I’m doing – whether it be England or America – I’m always having to do some accent,” Charlie says laughing.
Charlie Hunnam plays ‘Jax’ the well-liked son trying to balance the demands of the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club with his own personal morals. But as with all of the cleverly complicated characters created by producer Kurt Sutter, Jax goes from disarming with a smile or quip to outbursts so violent other members have to pull him off his unfortunate victim. Of course there’s a perverse street justice angle to every beating, but the brutality stops viewers from placing Hunnam’s character in any type of box.
Facing the moral challenge of how the Sons of Anarchy, an outlaw motorcycle club in the fictitious town of Charming California makes their money, dealing with a prematurely born baby, rival gangs, unwanted attention from law officials and all while he wrestles power from his step-father in a modern Shakespearean fashion, Hunnam is offered the opportunity to flex every acting muscle available to him.
The cast have become close on Sons of Anarchy, with just a few actors have riding experience many had the opportunity to learn together. And while Charlie and Tommy Flanagan (Chibs on Anarchy) are friends from working on past projects together (they bumped into each other in Sons of Anarchy auditions), he has spent a lot time with fellow actor Mark Boone Junior who plays Bobby, on the set as well as in the saddle talking ‘this world through’.
“I think it’s by far and away the best cast I’ve ever worked with and certainly have stronger relationships in this cast than I’ve ever had with any group of actors I’ve worked with before,” Charlie adds.
Possibly working under the assumption that the cast that plays together, stays together many of the stars of Sons of Anarchy were seen at the twenty-fifth Love Ride.
“As soon as I heard about it, I was really eager to ride in it,” he said, “And I already have my license, but I know some of the other cast are feverishly going and taking tests now so they can ride in it, too.”
Ride they did, Ron Perlman, Katy Segal, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, Johnny Lewis, Kim Coates, Theo Rossi as well as Charlie himself all enthusiastically took part in the Love Ride which went onto raise over $1 million for worthy charities.
FX is apparently happy with viewer’s response to Sons of Anarchy, the show is riding through their third season giving Hunnam the opportunity to work on his various projects but also look to riding the motorcycle he wants to have, a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide. Meanwhile fans can only follow the different script ideas come to him on those stunning rides through the Southern California hills and what trouble the Sons of Anarchy can get up to in the town of Charming in the next season of the show.
And Charlie Hunnam’s story arrives at this point with a twist in a similar fashion to which his career started. As with many bikers the journey of finding that two wheeled passion took a winding and wandering path.
Admittedly, his story has a few more familiar names thrown in.
Source: Clutch & Chrome.