His Journey From Working-Class Tyneside To Silver Screened Hollywood Has Been A Long And Intense Slog. But Now That The Outlaw Biker From Sons Of Anarchy Has Been Crowned King In Guy Ritchie’s Arthurian Epic, The Reward Has Repaid The Toil. Charlie Hunnam Explains To Mh Why He Doesn’t Know Anyother Way
"The Great White Is Not An Apex Predator," says Charlie Hunnam across the breakfast table. “Orca whales eat them, so great whites have learned to be afraid of anything swimming in their direction. The best mode of self-defence is to swim toward them. Now, admittedly, it takes an extraordinary amount of courage and will to force one’s body to do that…”
If it’s not the most obvious subject to be discussing over eggs with a rising Hollywood star, it is nevertheless an instructive way to begin understanding Hunnam’s intense approach to, well, pretty much everything.
Not long ago, the 37-year-old Tynesider was in the final stages of planning an ambitious shark-diving excursion with photographer Michael Muller. The project would be dangerous – they would be filming out in open water rather than from cages – and wits would be needed. But the trip didn’t come off.
His response to this news was revealing. Hunnam was so disappointed not to have the opportunity to test out his theory that he instead dived back into a feverish, unbroken run of work. He says he hasn’t taken time off in seven years. There was a plan B – a two-week trip to Thailand with his long-term girlfriend, Morgana McNelis – but commitment to his career won out.
“I just had so much anxiety about going away and not doing any work for two weeks,” he offers by way of justification. “I hadn’t been able to get to a point where I was ready to commit to a fortnight off. Which is, I realise, insane.” McNelis, he assures MH, has sensibly made her own holiday arrangements over the years.
ROYAL ASCENT
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