Charlie Hunnam On ‘Fifty Shades’: ‘I Just Couldn’t Transition From Jax Teller To Christian Grey In 48 Hours’

Charlie Hunnam has gone into detail about why he really departed “Fifty Shades of Grey” and how painful it was to leave the feature film project.

In an interview with Moviefone, the actor said he was busy with “Sons of Anarchy,” and knew he had little time to commit to “Fifty Shades,” but he wanted to meet director Sam Taylor-Johnson.

“And then I just fell in love, creatively,” the “SOA” star told Moviefone. “I started talking about this thing and I just got so excited. I fell in love with the character and started seeing him and becoming intoxicated, which is the way I work: I find a character I love and I start thinking about it all the time.”

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Hunnam explained that although he said yes, it was more than his “SOA” schedule that stopped him from staying with the “Fifty Shades” gig. He explained that he was going to leave for the project on a Friday evening, immediately after filming “SOA,” and start “Fifty Shades” without rehearsals. He’d also have to finish that and then rush to film “Crimson Peak,” a film from Guillermo del Toro, he told Moviefone.

“I just had like … frankly, something of a nervous breakdown,” he said.

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Realizing he had to say goodbye to “Fifty Shades” and the character Christian hurt.

“I just said, ‘I can’t … I can’t …,'” he said. “To fail on such a grand scale – because ‘Fifty’s going to be massive, it’s going to be huge. I really didn’t want to fail on such a grand scale and I just couldn’t transition from Jax Teller to Christian Grey in 48 hours. I bit off more than I could chew and it was painful. I loved the character and I wanted to do it.”

On Tuesday night, Hunnam begins his final run as Jax in FX series “Sons of Anarchy.”

Over the summer at the Television Critics Association Tour, Hunnam explained how he separates from playing Jax.

“I think one of the skill sets that I’ve really developed over the course of doing this show with Kurt [Sutter, ‘SOA’s’ Executive Producer] is trying is not taking the work home as much as possible,” he told reporters. “I just wouldn’t have been able to sustain. I am not able to sustain Jax’s life. He’s a better man than I… which is not to say that I don’t go home in a bad mood or a good mood, but it’s usually more to do with how I feel I did that day. If I’m happy with the work I did, I’ll usually go home with a little bit of a spring in my step. Or if I feel like I totally f***ed it up, I’ll go home completely despondent.”

“Sons of Anarchy” Season 7 premieres September 9 at 10 PM on FX.

Jolie Lash

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