‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 7: Charlie Hunnam on fame, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ more

Do you remember back when it was first announced that Charlie Hunnam was going to play Christian Grey in a “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie? While “Sons of Anarchy” had already made the actor famous, he suddenly saw an explosion of celebrity. Women were sending him underwear, the paparazzi started following him, and his entire life just started to become chaos.

Thanks to this, there were flurries of rumors at the time that he left the project because of all the changes to his life, or that he didn’t love the role or whatnot. However, he insists that this is not the case. Speaking to the Associated Press in one of his first real interviews on the subject, he explains that the actual stories about the movie conflicting with his schedule was the actual truth behind this exit:

“The CliffsNotes were exactly what we said … I couldn’t do it because of [the] schedule. It was as simple as that.”

Hunnam has been a bust guy this summer, and is still hard at working filming the final “Sons of Anarchy” season in California. This will premiere on September 9, and upon the conclusion of the show, he will have more openings in his schedule for other projects.

In addition to praising Jamie Dornan (who ultimately ended up winning the role of Christian), Charlie also praises extensively author E.L. James for creating a book that caused so much discussion. He still plans on watching the movie when it comes out in February, even though he was not a part of it in the end.

We are going to have further “Sons of Anarchy” news later in the day thanks to TCA, so be sure to watch out for that at the link here. Also, you can sign up now if you want to get even further TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: FX