Charlie Hunnam Got Real on Why Nudity Was NOT the Reason He Dropped Out of ‘Fifty Shades’ — ‘When I Was 18 I Was Getting F***ed in the A**, Completely Naked on National TV’
Charlie Hunnam made headlines nearly a decade ago when he dropped out of the Fifty Shades of Grey movie adaptation. The Sons of Anarchy star had signed on to play the lead role of Christian Grey alongside Dakota Johnson’s Anastasia Steele. But just before filming was scheduled to begin, Hunnam called director Sam Taylor-Johnson and told her he couldn’t be part of the project.
Why did Hunnam drop out of Fifty Shades of Grey? Well, it definitely wasn’t because of the nudity.
Charlie Hunnam blames scheduling conflicts and personal issues
During the last season of Sons of Anarchy, Hunnam signed onto two film projects — Fifty Shades of Grey and Guillermo Del Toro’s gothic romance Crimson Peak. But the rehearsal and filming schedules of both films overlapped with shooting Sons of Anarchy. And Hunnam just couldn’t do all three at once.
To make things worse, the actor was dealing with some personal issues. And everything just became too overwhelming. Ultimately, he decided to honor his commitment to del Toro, a good friend, because he had given him his word. But that meant he had to break the bad news to Taylor-Johnson.
“It was deeply unpleasant and challenging emotionally. I really, really pride myself on being a professional and a man of keeping my word. It means a lot to me, truly,” Hunnam told Variety in 2015.
He called Taylor-Johnson directly to tell her “this was not going to work,” and he says they both cried their eyes out for 20 minutes.
“There was a lot of personal stuff going on in my life that left me on real emotional shaky ground and mentally weak. I just got myself so f***ing overwhelmed and I was sort of having panic attacks about the whole thing,” Hunnam confessed.
Nudity was not the reason he dropped out of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
When Hunnam dropped out of Fifty Shades, rumors swirled that he made the decision because of the sexual nature of the film. But he says that’s simply not true — the decision really was made based on scheduling conflicts.
He pointed to his early work on the UK version of Queer as Folk that aired in the late 1990s as proof that he had no problems with nudity and sexual content.
“When I was 18 I was getting f***ed in the a**, completely naked on national TV, you know?” he said.
Hunnam also noted that fans could have seen even more of him on that show if it weren’t for the censors.
“I did full frontal when I was 18 on the TV show Queer as Folk. But because I was playing a 15-year-old character, the censorship people wouldn’t allow us to put it on TV,” Hunnam said, per Entertainment Tonight.
Charlie Hunnam has ‘nothing to hide’
The level of nudity that Hunnam does now — which is mostly just taking his shirt off — doesn’t bother him “at all.” The 42-year-old admits he may have been “a little more fearless” when it came to nudity during his younger years. But if he were asked to do full-frontal again, he’s sure he would because he has “nothing to hide.”
It’s no secret that Hunnam is in incredible shape. But Hunnam says he’s never had the desire to be known as a sex symbol or “the guy” who takes his “shirt off onscreen.”
“Nudity doesn’t bother me, but being reduced to a pinup boy is a bit annoying. I can empathize with female stars — how much stress is put on them to be sexy and on their looks as opposed to their acting,” Hunnam told Cosmo.
All seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy are available on Hulu. Queer as Folk UK is available on Peacock, Tubi, and The Roku Channel.
