Why ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Fans Never Got to See Charlie Hunnam’s Most Raw Moment as Jax Teller
Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam had a number of memorable moments as outlaw Jax Teller. Nearly a decade after Kurt Sutter’s biker drama came to an end, the Brit took time to rewatch some of his character’s most notable scenes — something he never does — for Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection. During the rewatch, Hunnam revealed that fans never got to see his most raw moment as Jax Teller.
Charlie Hunnam didn’t rehearse one of Jax’s most memorable ‘Sons of Anarchy’ scenes
Sons of Anarchy Season 7, Episode 11 “Suits of Woe” was one of the series’ final episodes, and it included one of Jax’s most memorable moments. In the specific scene that Hunnam rewatched, Juice (Theo Rossi) told Jax the truth about Tara’s (Maggie Siff) death. It was the most horrific reveal of the entire series — and the actor says he went into it without any rehearsal.
“Holy moly, this is a great scene. The scene that I think I’ve been most nervous about in my whole career…I confront my best friend, who knew that my mother had killed my wife and failed to tell me that,” Hunnam explained.
“It’s about nine pages of dialogue, and I said ‘I’m not rehearsing it, I just need to go away and prepare and we’re just gonna do it.’
Why fans never got to see Charlie Hunnam’s most raw moment as Jax Teller
Hunnam continued the story, explaining that everything was set up in the room on set. He says that when they started filming, “something happened” during the scene where “life became what was happening.”
“Like we were actually in that room, this was actually happening to us. And I just broke down and started wailing inconsolably. And sort of being violent with my guy, and it was really good. It was better than I could have ever hoped it was gonna be,” Hunnam explained.
Then, director Peter Weller came into the room and told him, “I don’t know what that was, but it was the greatest single thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a wrap, we’re not shooting this again.” But, that’s not the take that fans actually saw.
“Then, our beautiful cinematographer, Paul Maibaum, came in white and he said, ‘actually we are shooting that again, the camera didn’t roll,'” Hunnam revealed. “And it wasn’t as good, but them’s the breaks, you know? It’s still pretty good!”
Director Peter Weller says he needed 2 takes of that ‘Sons of Anarchy’ scene
From Weller’s perspective, he needed “absolute quiet” on the set. But before they started filming, he announced to everyone how important the scene was before they shot it.
“I announced before it started, ‘This is not just the apex or the climax of the seventh season; it is really the climax of all revelation—the most horrific, horrific revelation in all of Sons of Anarchy. There will be wrap-ups and vengeance, but there will be no revelation like this, that your mother killed your wife. So we gotta shut up, and I’m gonna set up two angles, and we’re gonna do it twice,'” Weller told Entertainment Weekly.
Weller said the reason he wanted two takes from Hunnam was for Rossi’s benefit. He explained that actors don’t really have more takes than that in them to find out horrific news like that.
“The rest of it’s sorta bulls*** after two takes. But I had to edit [the scene], and then they edited it perfectly, and I said, ‘I don’t want to see it anymore. It’s too damn upsetting,’” Weller said.
All seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy are on Hulu.
