Stars At The Shore: Charlie Hunnam
Charlie Hunnam recently appeared at Dusk nightclub inside Caesars Casino in Atlantic City where hundreds of fans eagerly awaited the chance to meet and take photographs with the English actor and screenwriter. The 32 year-old currently stars as Jackson 'Jax' Teller on FX's highest rated show, Sons of Anarchy. The popular TV drama follows the adventures of a notorious outlaw motorcycle club in California trying to protect their livelihood--an automotive shop which is really a ruthless and illegal arms business.
While on hiatus from Sons of Anarchy, Hunnam shot Guillermo del Toro's science fiction film, Pacific Rim scheduled to be released during the summer of 2013. He also stars in the upcoming feature film Deadfall, due out in December with Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek.
PHOTOS: Charlie Hunnam At Caesars Casino
While on the red carpet, Hunnam talked about what it's like doing all of his own motorcycle stunts on Sons of Anarchy; his upcoming feature films and his love of writing.
How has your role on Sons of Anarchy impacted your career?
It's really been a defining role in my career. It's interesting; I'm use to doing film and when you do a TV show you're playing the same character year after year. You get very close and I've had some of the deepest, creative experiences of my life on the show. Like, when 'Opie,' my best-friend on the show played by Ryan Hurst--a terrific actor--when he died this year it was a really, deeply emotional experience for everyone on the show. We start to kind of live these characters' lives after a while; we've been playing them for five years now.
Is it fun riding motorcycles and doing stunts for the role of Jackson 'Jax' Teller on Sons of Anarchy?
It is fun and it was a lot more fun in the beginning of the show; I use to love to do all of that. I do all of my own riding and do all of my own fighting and stunts and everything but it's hard. We shoot an episode of that show every seven days so twice a week we're doing some kind of action sequence and we get hurt a lot. Getting hurt all the time kind of gets old a little bit.
The film, Deadfall comes out in December did you enjoy working with Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson?
It was great! I had been a huge fan of Eric Bana since childhood; back in the day. He was a really terrific actor and it was a great experience to get to work with him, Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson--that whole cast was wonderful.
This summer the science fiction film Pacific Rim comes out. Was it exciting to work on a monster movie with Guillermo del Toro?
That to me has been one of the most, if not the most exciting opportunity of my career to get to work with Guillermo del Toro. They definitely spent a lot of money and a lot of those types of films that are comic-book movies or monster movies I find are always a little cynical. They're kind of money making ventures; but with a guy like Guillermo at the helm of a film like that, it's really about the odds. He stays up at night drawing pictures of robots and monsters; so it felt like it had a lot of integrity which is unique for a big monster movie like that.
You enjoying writing and wrote a screenplay, Vlad about Dracula which was sold to Brad Pitt's company. Has filming started?
It's always hard to get movies made. We sold it and we got a great deal. We've got Brad Pitt's company Plan B producing the film and then Summit Entertainment--that made Twilight--own it so hopefully they'll make it but it's been in development for a while now. With everyday that goes by and it doesn't get made, you think is it really going to happen? But, I'm taking this hiatus off now and I have two other writing projects that I'm working on so I'll keep writing and hopefully one of them will get made.
Do you have any fond memories of Philadelphia?
A Philly cheese steak! I went there once when Sons of Anarchy was in its first year to come and talk to some of the affiliate people and we had a nice night there.
Veronica Dudo is an award-winning journalist covering everything from breaking news to red carpet celebrity interviews. Follow her on Twitter @VeronicaDudo and Facebook
