Charlie listens closely to Oscar winner Stefan Ruzowitzky on the set of Deadfall.
On demand 11/1 & in theaters 12/7 from Magnolia Pictures
Category: Film
Check out Charlie’s entire interview, as well as an interview with his Frankie Go Boom co-stars Ron Perlman and Lizzy Caplan over at COMINGSOON.NET
CS: Is it a tricky balance for you knowing that the audience both wants to sympathize as well as see bad things happen just because they’re funny?
Hunnam: This was an exercise in trust like no other I’ve every experienced in that I went into this with the awareness that I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know how comedy worked or how to do it or how to make it funny if it wasn’t working naturally. So I just really surrendered myself. I said to Jordan, “Look, I’m putting all my trust in you in a way that I never have with a director before. I don’t know this world. I need to trust that your barometer of what’s funny and what’s working is going to be true.” It really did come down to that, specifically to landing the jokes. If I made Jordan laugh, that was good enough for me. Everything I did I didn’t think was funny. It was really about trusting him completely. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. (Laughs)CS: There’s a sweet relationship between Frankie and Phyllis. Can you talk about building that with Ron?
Hunnam: I think that just innately happened because me and Ron have so much history. It is something that, in the past, I’ve been conscious of and have worked towards. On “Sons,” I’m really conscious of that and how really working closely for five years has intensified the performances on screen. But yeah, it’s something that one, as an actor, really thinks about. I did a film some years ago, “Green Street Hooligans,” and there’s an actor in that, Leo Gregory, who plays a kind of Judas character. In the beginning of that film, we only have three scenes together where we’re best friends and you can see how much we love each other before the relationship goes bad. You have to feel that lack of friendship and hostility. Between two actors that don’t know each other that well, it’s very easy to play the hostility, but to play the friendship within the hostility requires you to know that person a little bit better. To find the intricacies. I was very aware of that and I said, “Listen, this isn’t going to work. We have three scenes to show how well we know one another. If we don’t show that, it’s going to fall flat on its face.” So I reached out to him and said, “Dude, I think that we should spend a month together before shooting. Why don’t you come to LA and live with me for a month? Or I can come to London and live with you.” He still lived with his mum in London and he said, “F–k that. You ain’t coming to live with me and my mum. I’ll come to LA.” He came to LA and we just hung out. We smoked together every day and went to the gym and trained and talked about s–t. We went back to England together. We went to football matches. That’s one of the things I’m most proud of because, if you watch for just that moment on screen, he does something where he lights a cigarette, before he puts his box away, he pulls out a cigarette and hands me one. Without even looking, I just take it. It’s those moments that tell such a huge story on screen. It’s a huge challenge, always, as an actor.CS: What do you look for now in terms of roles?
Hunnam: I feel every bit as much a writer as I am an actor. I’m actually probably more a writer than I am an actor. So I’ve been writing a lot. I have a film that I want to direct. A very, very small film that I want to direct in two years, starring Tommy Flanagan from “Sons of Anarchy.” I actually got Tommy the role of my brother in “Green Street Hooligans” and then, long story, he ended up not being able to do the movie. But I’ve had a long relationship with Tommy and I just think he’s one of the most extraordinarly gifted actors out there. He’s going to play the lead in this film that I want to direct. Then I have three other films that I’m writing. One is for me to star in and two that I just want to set up and get out there into the world. That’s a lot of the plan for myself in the future. To try and evolve into a writer/director. Specifically, though, there aren’t so many roles that I’m looking for as much as the opportunity to work with great directors. I feel like I have so much to learn. I feel more and more proud of the work that I’ve been doing, but I feel like getting to work with those A-list directors will really kind of kick my game up and allow me to turn in performances that I want to. I really care about acting and want to be as good as I can be. That is not always just down to the actor. You need a strong director and a strong writer and a strong editor.
Don’t miss the chance to check out the ENTIRE interview in full over at COLLIDER.COM
Did you immediately decide that you wanted to torture Ron Perlman and get him to play Phyllis?
HUNNAM: Yeah, pretty much! Any time I can torture Ron, I jump at the chance. Chris O’Dowd had been cast, and then I was cast. And then, we had to find the girl, so I read with a bunch of girls. When Lizzy [Caplan] came in, she was just spectacular and it became very clear that she was the choice. And then, we had no time. We had about 10 days and we needed to cast the rest of the movie. So, we had a long conversation and Ron got brought up to play the Chris Noth role. We talked about it and talked about it and talked about it, and I said, “You know, we’ve got a shot at him. He might actually come do this.” So, we sent it to him and I said, “Listen, man, we’ve got a week to cast this movie. Please, if you’re going to read it and actually engage, could you do it tonight and let us know tomorrow ‘cause we’re really up against it.” And he said, “Yeah, I’ll read it.” I figured that I wasn’t going to hear back from him, but he called me in the morning and said, “Okay, I read the script.” I said, “What do you think of the role?,” and he said, “I don’t like it.” I said, “Okay, well, thanks for reading it,” and he said, “Wait, I want to play Phyllis.” I said, “What?! What are you talking about, man?,” and he said, “Charlie, I need you to keep this just between you and I. I have always secretly wanted to play a woman.” I said, “You’re a twisted dude, but I think the director is going to be very excited to hear that.” So, I told Jordan and he just laughed hysterically and said, “Tell him, he’s got the job,” and that was that. And then, Ron shot his entire performance in one day. He just came in and did it, and it was fun.
What was your reaction when you saw him in the make-up and wardrobe? Was it ever hard not to laugh?
HUNNAM: It was just like we won the lottery, when he stepped out of the trailer. We flip-flopped. Normally, I’m the crazy one that’s being a bit method, but he just turned into Phyllis. I said, “Whoa, man, this is just too deliciously absurd for words! I can’t believe what I’m looking at right now!” And he said, “Oh, stop it, darling! Now, walk me to set.” So, he put his arm out and we walked, arm-in-arm, to set. I thought, “This is so perverse and absurd, but I kind of love it.”
Have you always had an eye on writing and directing, at some point?
HUNNAM: I got expelled from high school, and then did my exams from home. I decided, through that experience, that I was going to expediate my plan and didn’t go to university. Instead, I went to a community college and studied the theory and history of film with the idea that I wanted to write and direct. And then, through that, I got an opportunity to act, which then just took precedence. But, it’s just been growing in me. Right before I got Sons of Anarchy, I actually quit acting for 18 months and didn’t read a single script, and I wrote a film. I felt like I needed to do something that I had control over, as an artist, and also just do something where I felt like I had some control over my life, as just a human, out in the world. Being at the mercy of the acting profession, in the early days of one’s career, is really brutal and feels like you have no control over your life, at all.
So, I actually just finished writing that screenplay and managed to sell it, and then was going to start writing something else when Sons of Anarchy landed on my desk. I just thought, “A TV show is not really anything that I’m that interested in doing.” I called my agent and was like, “Really? Why are you sending me a TV show? You’ve never sent me a TV show before, and we’ve never talked about me doing a TV show.” He said, “Just read it, bro.” So, I read it and was like, “Holy shit!” The quality of the writing was so much better than all of the films I had been reading. It was actually an original idea. A guy wanted to tell a family drama, set against the backdrop of a motorcycle club. There had been some biker exploitation movies made in the ‘70s, but they were all terrible. Never had this vastly interesting, rich world been explored before. I was like, “Wow, this is a guy who’s really trying to do something.”
What is the movie you wrote that you want to direct?
HUNNAM: I don’t want to talk about it too much because it’s so far away. But, I’m going to try to make it in two and a half years’ time, when we finish Sons, altogether. It’s going to star Tommy Flanagan, who plays Chibs on the show. He’s been one of my best friends for years. I’d known him for years, before we did Sons together. I’ve known Tommy, for years and years. It’s a film set in England, about a part of English society that’s really seldom been explored, but is one of the most colorful and interesting parts of British society. We’re just going to make it for no money at all, and go and do it. We’re just two best friends, going to make a movie. If I can actually go make it, I’ll be able to give Tommy his first ever leading role. That guy is way overdue. I think he’s one of the most talented guys out there. He’s just gonna be so beautiful, as this guy. Hopefully, we’ll get it made and march fearlessly in the direction of our dreams.
Make sure you check out the entire interview with Charlie and his Frankie Go Boom co-star Lizzy Caplan over at BUZZINEFILM.COM – It’s hilarious!
Q: You and Ron have now done three projects together, and we were wondering, are the two of you having this built into your contracts now, that one doesn’t work unless the other is brought in?
Charlie Hunnam: You know, safety in numbers. Why not? We’re huge stars now. We get to call the shots, so why not just bend them to our will?
Lizzy Caplan: What’s the third one?
Q: Pacific Rim.
CH: Ahhh, just this little three hundred million dollar movie [laughs] that we’ve just done, doesn’t matter.
LC: I really don’t follow Charlie’s career, I mean I knownothing about him! Nothing.
Q: How much rehearsal time, if at all, do you have to develop the chemistry that you have on screen?
CH: I think it’s just innate.
LC: I’m a genius actress. I mean, really good.
CH: And we’re just clearly very attracted to each other.
LC: Oh god. If you even knew what was happening beneath this table right now… [Laughs]
CH: We didn’t actually really have much time at all. You know what I think was actually kind of a fun thing, is that we did all of the rehearsal and costume and make up and everything all at Jordan’s house. So we kind of, that’s the thing that I remember, more than any rehearsal, I think you were there [looks at Caplan] – ‘cause I cut my locks off for this movie –
LC: You were such a crybaby about it.
CH: I was such a crybaby about it, but those guys were there to witness it and hold my hand through the process. So we had probably two or three days of hanging, but this whole thing was a very, very fast process. We shot the film I believe in 20 days… 19 or 20 days –
LC: Yeah, something like that.
CH: – for no money at all, and it was really just kind of – more than any type of rehearsal or bonding or anything, I just feel like the movie had something of an energy to it, that was just like, none of us had to do this, or [do it] for money, ‘cause none of us were getting paid. And it was just kind of a fun couple of days, a fun four week romp that we got together and had this experience together. You know, it just felt kind of free –
LC: Summer camp!
CH: And summer campy –
LC: Yeah, you really have to want to be there because you’re definitely not doing it for any of the creature comforts. And they were long days, and some of them were hard days. But it was you know, it was fun. Chris O’Dowd was fantastic. Like our whole cast – I’m such a fan of all of theirs, except for Charlie… and so, I was just having a good time hanging out with all those guys. And I knew Whitney [Cummings] for a few years before…
CH: Ah yes, Whitney.
Don’t miss out on Charlie’s entire interview, head on over to SHOCKYA.COM to read it now!
ShockYa: So Jordan was just telling me that this movie is the most pirated on the web this week. What do you make of that?
Charlie Hunnam: It’s just one of these unfortunate realities of this technological revolution. It’s easier to make films like this and get them out into the marketplace, for people to see them. We don’t have to have a huge distribution deal and 1,000 screens to get it out there, but the flipside of that is that it’s much easier to then go and pirate that material and send it out into the world. You know, of course, not being the financier, my feeling is that I really wish people wouldn’t pirate, because it makes it more difficult to make films… but there’s still a certain satisfaction that people are going out and seeking out the material, seeking out the thing we made. It’s a tricky thing.
ShockYa: Did you ever download illegal music via Napster or anything when you were younger?
CH: No, I really didn’t — partly because I’m not really technologically savvy, and partly because I grew up in a very backwards place, an economically and socially depressed area that was definitely 10 years behind the rest of the south of England, Newcastle Upon Tyne. I actually didn’t even really have access to a computer until I was 18 or so. I’d never sent an email or anything like that. You know, if you grew up in Los Angeles at the same age as me you would have had a computer at age 12, but it just wasn’t a reality for me. And so by the time I got connected, I was already working in this business and wouldn’t and couldn’t justify stealing the product that I was participating in making, you know? Sometimes a friend of mine and I will be talking about a new band and they’ll be like, “Will you burn that for me?” And I’ll be like, “Yeah, yeah,” but then I’ll be like, “I’d actually rather just give you the money and let you go buy it.” I actually really enjoy corporate theft — I’m not a guy who particularly has a weak stomach when it comes to crime. I have a lot of friends who are criminals – just, like, actively, everyday gangsters, and I have no problem with that whatsoever. A friend of mine robbed 32 banks and ended up [getting] caught, did his time, and is out now, and that’s behind him. But he targeted institutions that he didn’t think were righteous — big banks that are not being very nice to their customers. He was a righteous gangster. And his story I just find absolutely marvelous. But it seems like stealing from artists, knowing what it is to be a struggling artist, doesn’t seem that cool to me. Hurting the individual I really disdain; hurting big corporate America I kind of absolutely admire.
ShockYa: You’re a younger brother in real life, right? Did any of your experiences jibe with Frank’s in the movie?
CH: Yes, I’d completely forgotten about that. I definitely do feel some similarities, though. I [told Jordan my brother is] one of the toughest guys I’ve ever met — the kind of guy, at least when we were growing up together, where you’d go out on a night of drinking and you might end up on a stolen boat in the North Sea, because at some point in the night he might say, “Yo, let’s go sailing!” And this is that type of guy — totally dominated by brother. As I was. Now I have two younger brothers too, because I’m in the middle, and so for a period of time I dominated them too, because that’s how it works with brothers — you just pay it forward.
