Press: Charlie Hunnam promises his new series ‘Shantaram’ is “radically different” from ‘Sons of Anarchy’

Press: Charlie Hunnam promises his new series ‘Shantaram’ is “radically different” from ‘Sons of Anarchy’

Don’t expect Hunnam to spend much time on a motorcycle in his first series regular role since the biker drama.

EW.com — Charlie Hunnam knows what you’re thinking about the first photo Apple released last month from his new series Shantaram. In the image, the Sons of Anarchy alum sits perched on a motorcycle, looking very much like his former role as outlaw motorcycle club member Jax Teller on the FX drama. But Hunnam’s new character, fugitive Lin Ford, is nothing like Jax. And Shantaram is nothing like Sons of Anarchy.

“I thought that was very cheeky that Apple released that image as the first image,” Hunnam tells EW with a laugh. “I’m on a motorcycle in the show for approximately two minutes maximum over the course of 12 hours, so I hope people don’t get too excited thinking that this is some sort of Sons of Anarchy in India, because that’s not what we’re delivering. The show is so radically different and the characters are so radically different.”

Hunnam stars in the adaptation of the 2003 international best-selling novel from Australian author Gregory David Roberts about Lin’s adventures in 1980s Bombay after escaping prison. Alone in an unfamiliar city, he falls for an enigmatic and intriguing woman while on the run from his past, and soon must choose between freedom or love, and the complications that come with it.

Shantaram marks Hunnam’s first series regular TV gig since Sons of Anarchy wrapped in 2014, and he’s excited to begin this next phase of his career. “I was really a kid when I started Sons, although that grew into feeling quite proud of some of the work that I did in the later seasons,” he says. “I’m just a different person now. I’m north of 40 now, and I’ve been taking stock of who I am and who I would like to be, and the work that I do is certainly an element of that. I think it was an important step for me to challenge myself in those ways. It was very rewarding to push myself out of my comfort zone with this project — I’ve never worked as hard on anything as I’ve worked on this, so I’m nervous and just really excited to see what the reaction will be.”

Credit: Roland Neveu/Apple TV+

Choosing his first post-Sons series regular role was a big decision, and it’s one that he didn’t take lightly. “I very much enjoy the process of long-form storytelling and the consistency of working with the same cast and the opportunity to play the same character for a long period of time, but when I finished Sons of Anarchy, I needed a break from the rigor of that routine, because it’s pretty arduous shooting television,” he says. “I wanted also to wait until the right thing came along, because it’s such a big commitment. It was in my mind, certainly, to make a return to television if I had the opportunity.”

Continue reading Press: Charlie Hunnam promises his new series ‘Shantaram’ is “radically different” from ‘Sons of Anarchy’

Press: Apple TV+ reveals a first look at “Shantaram,” the highly anticipated new drama series starring Charlie Hunnam

Press: Apple TV+ reveals a first look at “Shantaram,” the highly anticipated new drama series starring Charlie Hunnam

Apple.com‘Shantaram’ to make its global debut Friday, October 14 on Apple TV+

Apple TV+ recently unveiled a first look at “Shantaram,” a new drama series starring Charlie Hunnam (“Sons of Anarchy”), and based on the internationally bestselling novel by Gregory David Roberts. The highly anticipated Apple Original series is a hopeful cinematic love story coupled with a thrilling epic adventure that follows one man’s journey to redemption through a country that changes his life. “Shantaram” will make its global debut with the first three episodes of its 12-episode first season on Friday, October 14, 2022, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday through December 16, 2022, on Apple TV+.

“Shantaram” follows a fugitive named Lin Ford (Hunnam) looking to get lost in vibrant and chaotic 1980s Bombay. Alone in an unfamiliar city, Lin struggles to avoid the trouble he’s running from in this new place. After falling for an enigmatic and intriguing woman named Karla, Lin must choose between freedom or love and the complications that come with it.

In addition to Hunnam, the series also stars Shubham Saraf, Elektra Kilbey, Fayssal Bazzi, Luke Pasqualino, Antonia Desplat, Alyy Khan, Sujaya Dasgupta, Vincent Perez, David Field, Alexander Siddig, Gabrielle Scharnitzky, Elham Ehsas, Rachel Kamath, Matthew Joseph and Shiv Palekar.

The series is co-created, written and executive produced by Steve Lightfoot, who also serves as showrunner. Bharat Nalluri directs and executive produces. Andrea Barron, Nicole Clemens, Steve Golin and Justin Kurzel also executive produce along with Eric Warren Singer, who co-created the series. “Shantaram” is produced for Apple by Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content’s AC Studios.

Press: Charlie Hunnam on ‘Jungleland,’ the Status of ‘Shantaram,’ & Why He Didn’t Do ‘Pacific Rim 2’

Press: Charlie Hunnam on ‘Jungleland,’ the Status of ‘Shantaram,’ & Why He Didn’t Do ‘Pacific Rim 2’

Collider.com — During this in-depth 1-on-1 chat with Collider, Hunnam tells us why he was drawn to playing Stanley, what it was like to get to know and work with O’Connell, and why he’s already looking to work with Winkler again. He also talked about the status of his Apple TV+ series Shantaram, whether he’d do another long-running TV show like Sons of Anarchy, whether he’s involved with the Pacific Rim Netflix anime series, and much more.

COLLIDER: What was it about Jungleland that drew you in? Was it the story, was it the character, was it the relationship between these brothers, or was it all of that?

CHARLIE HUNNAM: It’s a testament to Max [Winkler]’s great writing but it just felt like a fresh character, in terms of general film history. I didn’t feel like I’d seen a character like Stanley portrayed too many times but it was also specifically a very fresh character for me. Although there’s a lot of color and a heightened sensibility to the film (or at least more so on the page than the final results), it was clear that Max was really interested in exploring something specific about the way in which people, but men in particular, interact with each other. It was just very clear that, although there was the relationship with the love story between Jess Barden and Jack O’Connell’s characters, the central love story was between these two brothers and their abiding deep sense of loyalty and love that they have for each other, and their absolute inability to express it and demonstrate it, in any way that might mitigate some of the inevitable, impending catastrophe that was clearly on the horizon. I came from a very, very working-class, tough environment where men didn’t really interact with each other in a way that I found deeply satisfying. So there was something about that, that felt personal to me, and that I was interested in exploring.

When you read a script, in general, how quickly do you typically know when it’s something that you want to do and that you can bring something to, and how quickly did you know when reading this?

HUNNAM: Immediately. It’s a two-step process for me. I’ve read so many scripts, at this point, that I just know right away — really within the first few pages — if the quality of the writing is there or if you can feel that it’s gonna be thematically resonant. That immediately became clear but I wasn’t familiar with Max’s work. So the second threshold is always having faith and excitement and being inspired by the director. I went and watched his film Flower, which I thought was really, really unique and frisky. I felt he had a voice that I was excited about and the performances in Flower are very, very good. Obviously, so much of an actor’s performance is going to be predicated on the way the director handles you on set, and then handles the raw material once they get into the edit room.

So, both of those things in conjunction made it a no-brainer immediately. I read the script and watched the film, over the course of one day, and then calls and said, “I wanna meet with Max,” and told him in the room, “I wanna do this movie.” It was a pretty easy process, in that regard.

Was there a specific point where you went from being someone who was excited just to get a script to read, to being able to tell pretty quickly if it wasn’t something that you would want to do?

HUNNAM: Yeah. There have been many steps along the process to get to where I am now and I can see that there are many steps ahead of me and I would like to hopefully be able to cross several more thresholds to get to where I would optimally like to be as a performer and as part of a filmmaking team, but yeah, definitely. What I’m realizing now is how long it took for me to have the self-belief to advocate for myself and say, “I’m only gonna align myself with a certain caliber of people.”

It’s an ever-evolving scale but I feel very fortunate that I’m in the position that I’m in now, where I’m getting not only good quality material with good directors but also a diversity of roles. People are not just seeing me as a sensitive tough guy. They’re actually seeing that I have the capacity to do other things, too, which is really heartening and something that is becoming increasingly important to me. I went through a process of dealing with some personal shit that I had to go through and dealing with trauma from childhood through work. I was feeling scared and like a sensitive kid in a tough environment, and it created a lot of self-loathing, so I decided that I wanted to play all of these tough guys for a long time, to get past this trauma and this negative self-image that I’d created for myself from my childhood. I realize now that I’ve exercised those demons and don’t need to do that anymore, and I’m not really interested in doing that anymore.

As you have started to produce and write things for yourself, does that also change your perspective on how you read something or what you want to do?

HUNNAM: Yeah. It’s a bit cerebral but this year has been incredibly impactful for me. I want to preface that I, by no means, want to sound like anything that’s happened this year is a positive thing because it’s obviously been incredibly tough for everybody, but the isolation has afforded me the opportunity to sit down and do what I have come to term from the experience of doing it as my work, in a way that I’ve never really felt in the past. I’ve written, for the last seven months, 85 hours a week, and I’ve not taken a day off where I haven’t written a minimum of 12 hours a day. I wrote a six-part TV show, I wrote a film, and I’m now in the process of outlining a four-part miniseries. I’ve been really immersed in what I feel like is my career 2.0, and it really has been a deeply satisfying experience, in the clearest way I can experience it. I feel like truly, for the first time, that I’m doing my work.

Continue reading Press: Charlie Hunnam on ‘Jungleland,’ the Status of ‘Shantaram,’ & Why He Didn’t Do ‘Pacific Rim 2’

Charlie Hunnam to Star in Apple Series ‘Shantaram’

Charlie Hunnam to Star in Apple Series ‘Shantaram’

HollywoodReporter.com — The former ‘Sons of Anarchy’ star will play the lead role in the series based on a novel by Gregory David Roberts.

Charlie Hunnam is returning to TV.

The Sons of Anarchy star has taken his first series role since his FX show ended in 2014, signing on to drama Shantaram at Apple. The series from Paramount TV and Anonymous Content is the first international production for the tech giant’s nascent Apple TV+ streaming platform, which launches in November.

Shantaram, which is set for 10 episodes, is based on a best-selling novel by Gregory David Roberts. Hunnam will play Lin, a man on the run from an Australian prison who looks to get lost in the teeming city of Bombay. Cut off from family and friends by distance and fate, he finds a new life in the slums, bars and underworld of India. The novel also explores themes of love, forgiveness and courage on the road to redemption.

Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle, Top Gun: Maverick) adapted the novel and will executive produce with director Justin Kurzel (Assassin’s Creed), who will helm the first two episodes, Dave Erickson, Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Paramount TV president Nicole Clemens, Andrea Barron and Richard Sharkey.

Clemens helped Paramount TV and Anonymous win a bidding war for the project in early 2018 when she worked at Anonymous; she was named president of Paramount TV in November 2018.

Shantaram has previously been in development as a feature film with Joel Edgerton attached to star and Johnny Depp producing. When that didn’t go forward, Paramount TV and Anonymous Content won the rights to adapt the novel and follow-up The Mountain Shadow for TV.

Production is scheduled to begin in October in Australia and India.

Hunnam’s recent film work includes The Lost City of Z, Netflix’s Triple Frontier, True History of the Kelly Gang and Jungleland, the latter two of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. He is repped by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Sloane Offer.

Deadline first reported the news.