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Charlie Hunnam Talks Learning Jiu-Jitsu, His Workout Regimen for ‘King Arthur’ & More

Charlie Hunnam Talks Learning Jiu-Jitsu, His Workout Regimen for ‘King Arthur’ & More

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Charlie Hunnam has been introduced to the world of bjj earlier in 2016 when reports surfaced he actor was practicing along with Machado and inspired by black belt and director of the latest “King Arthur” movie. Being fairly discrete and not active on social media Hunnam was outed by his 22 push up challenge which he did in the Jean Jacques Machado rashguard.

But for the latest bout of his promotional duties related to King Arthur he had the Men’s Health reporter follow him straight to class.

According to the report to be published in the April edition of the magazine the two some started with some light talk. According to Hunnam part of the attraction to martial arts and fitness is related to vanity but there’s more than that as well:

“I’m interested in having a high fitness level across the board,” he says. “Running, swimming, jumping rope, hiking, jiu-jitsu—I try to do it all. I also try to make love as often as I can. That’s an important part of fitness. There’s no reason you can’t be active at 70. I want to run up mountains at that age.”

The writer then followed Hunnam into a jiu jitsu class. According to the report the learning curve in the class was steep. First segment was related to armbars but then moved onto chokes. The writer describes in detail being choked by Hunnam:

The pressure on my neck is firm, but I feel strangely safe with him. He’s strong but displays precise control and even a lightness of touch. Although brutal, there is an art to cutting off someone’s air supply. I double-tap his arm to signal submission. The sensei, Rigan Machado, an eighth-degree black belt member of Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s founding Gracie family, says Hunnam is a perfectionist—something I experience firsthand as we practice again and again and Hunnam fine-tunes his chokes. Nothing grounds you in the present more than being unable to breathe. Jiu-jitsu training demands focus and discipline.

It’s no surprise Hunnam had opted to practice in the company and under the guidance of Rigan Machado as Rigan is known for having invented a bjj system without sparring for his celebrity clientele:

“I created a new jiu jitsu system for people who can’t get hurt. It’s technical training. They learn jiu-jitsu and technically train, but it’s all safe. I created a type of jiu-jitsu for the Beverly Hills clientele. Competition, sparring… these guys can’t do that. I can’t even take a 1% chance of them getting hurt. I have 18 celebrities doing this program. Some guys have to sign disclosure agreements; others like Ashton Kutcher and Mickey Rourke come in regularly, while Usher comes in once and a while and Vin Diesel when he’s in town.”

Hunnam, packed on some pounds for the King Arthur: Legend of the Sword movie. According to his own statement he usually walks around at a 165 but he put on 20 pounds of muscle.
Rigan calls this style for celebrities “flow jiu jitsu”. It took him 9 years to put it together, and it has more than 700 techniques, which can be drilled and trained without risking injury.
As far as combative preparation for King Arthur goes Hunnam himself says:

“It’s not even as much the physical benefit of training; it’s the mental,” he says. “When you’re training every day in a combat discipline, it just gives you that eye of the tiger. Then if someone acts aggressively toward you, I can run all the scenarios through my head—you know, like I’m going to step to the side and put an elbow through your face.”
Hunnam sought to reimagine the noble action hero with Ritchie, himself a black belt in BJJ. “We wanted to do something a little rougher around the edges while still dealing with the rich Arthurian mythology,”

When Hunnam’s girlfriend of 11 years was cyberbullied last year, he released a video telling the perpetrators to knock it off. “The way I grew up, if you want to talk s*it, talk s*it to someone’s face and be prepared to fight.”

There’s no room for cowardliness in his approach adding in the end:

“We are supposed to be very active animals. It’s our DNA.” Hunnam derives emotional stability and clarity from his fitness. “Sweating is how I change my oil every day. I just feel happier, more positive, energized, and disciplined if I work out.” Ultimately, he says, “I train a lot every day because I’m f*cking crazy.”

Source: bjjee.com

Charlie Hunnam & Djimon Hounsou on ‘King Arthur’s Epic Action and Guy Ritchie’s Directorial Idiosyncrasies

Charlie Hunnam & Djimon Hounsou on ‘King Arthur’s Epic Action and Guy Ritchie’s Directorial Idiosyncrasies

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Post Categories Articles Interviews King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Pacific Rim Press

How did you come to work together?

DJIMON HOUNSOU: The call came in, and my agent said, “Charlie Hunnam,” “The guy from the biker show?” “Yeah,” my agents said. “He’s nice. He’s really cool. You’ll like him!” That was it. I came and met Charlie and it was a great rapport. Some people you just meet and have an affinity for. [There’s] no ego. It was a nice rapport.

CHARLIE HUNNAM: We did something strange and wonderful. I didn’t think it was gonna work at all, but it did. Guy had this wacky idea that he wanted to take an afternoon before we started working and shoot the whole film in four hours on two or three cameras and in a room all in black. We shot the whole film, and that’s where we met. That’s where most of the cast met. It was a baptism of fire. It was such a high-energy, sort of anxiety-inducing experience.

HOUNSOU: I landed the night before and I got here and met quickly for wardrobe, and I [heard] we had a video shoot the next morning. So I was highly stressed to say the least.

HUNNAM: But we came down really well right away. As soon as I came up and shook your hand I was like, “Ah, this motherfucker’s cool.” [Laughs.]

We’ve seen many versions of the King Arthur story. This one has a contemporary sensibility. Can you talk about what we’ll be seeing that we haven’t seen before?

HOUNSOU: The one obvious thing that you’ll see more of in this story is that it’s really about the Knights of the Round Table. How all of those knights came to make the king who he is.

HUNNAM: : As you would imagine, it’s the origin story. It’s the sort of Arthur origin story, of his rise to the throne. So it’s a reinvention certainly of the periods between him being estranged from his family and reuniting with his destiny, with sort of the royal lineage. It’s a very different sort of rendering. Much grimmer and grittier, and in a certain way probably much more modern. The camaraderie feels sort of modern and easily recognizable as boys’ banter, the sort of stuff Guy does very well. But I feel like the world and the pace of the whole thing feels very period. I don’t think it feels like an uber modern rendering of it.

Was it intimidating to take on a role that has such a history to it?

HUNNAM: No, if you think about that stuff you’ll completely get head-fucked. So I just don’t think about that at all. I just try to get to know the character on my own terms. Guy and I discussed a great deal who he was and what sort of version we found, between the two of us, most exciting. But I’m very familiar with Arthurian legend. In fact, my girlfriend is called Morgana, and one of my favorite films, that actually led me to want to become an actor, was Excalibur. I watched Excalibur ad nauseum as a child. So I’m very familiar with the world. But I just decided not to go back. I’d read The Once and Future King years ago, and I’ve always loved this world. But I decided to just try to forget everything I’d ever seen, and just come in with it fresh, and not feel that pressure of having to do justice to this beloved story. It just felt like it was much healthier and more fun and more exciting and more free just to approach it as though it was a completely original story and a completely original character; and not feel beholden to any of the shit you’d seen before, you know?

Can you elaborate on Guy shooting the whole film in four hours on a stage?

HUNNAM: I think there were several elements as to why it was useful to him. First and foremost it was sort of like a table read, but where he could actually see everything edited. Sort of like an elevated table read. Just to see the pace and the tone and a little bit of the dynamics between the characters. So that was the pre-production benefit of it. As we’ve gone on and they’ve been assembling different sequences that we’ve been shooting, we’ve been able to fill in the gaps with that stuff. So from about halfway into the filming they’ve had the whole film sort of edited with those sections that we hadn’t shot yet filled in with that four-hour thing. Which has been really interesting and helpful to Guy. He’s been going back and rewatching the film quite a lot. I’m sure if you talk to him there would have been other benefits too. But they were the obvious big ones. Continue reading Charlie Hunnam & Djimon Hounsou on ‘King Arthur’s Epic Action and Guy Ritchie’s Directorial Idiosyncrasies

Charlie Hunnam Wants To Become A Family Man

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Charlie Hunnam realises he needs to balance his relationship and work more effectively for when talk turns to starting a family.

The 36-year-old actor has been with his girlfriend Morgana McNelis since 2005 and the pair has had to ensure long periods apart due to Charlie’s film schedules.

He has previously admitted struggling to assign time to both his love life and career, and in a new interview he shared his desire to strike harmony between the two.

“I have an incredibly understanding girlfriend who is requiring more and more as we get older that I figure out a way to balance these things a little better,” he told Total Film magazine.
“I’ve gotten off pretty easily so far, with being able to just disappear and be completely selfish and singular in my focus, but if we’re going to start talking about children and getting married then I’m going to have to figure out a way to balance that a little bit more effectively.”

Despite the hurdles, Charlie’s star has soared over the years, with his breakthrough role coming in TV series Sons of Anarchy.

He describes the series as “true education” in acting, storytelling and filmmaking and doesn’t know where he’d be today if it wasn’t for his role as gang leader Jackson ‘Jax’ Teller.

“I was a working actor, I was able to work with good directors and make films I really believed in. But the opportunities were fairly sporadic and sometimes few and far between,” he recalled. “And Sons changed all of that. I was in an exponentially better position by the time I finished that show (in 2014) than I was at the beginning. I grew in confidence.”

Charlie currently has several silver screen projects in the pipeline, including The Lost City of Z and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Source: peoplemagazine.co.za