Why Charlie Hunnam Dropped Out Of His Role As Fifty Shades Of Grey's Christian Grey

As many are aware, E.L. James' 2011 erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" began as "Twilight" fan-fiction. James wrote a highly sexual, BDSM-flavored pornographic tale about Bella Swann and Edward Cullen — the main characters in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" — exploring each other's bodies. She eventually removed the "Twilight" elements and renamed the characters Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. The resulting novel became the most celebrated piece of pop erotica since, golly, "Deep Throat." It wasn't uncommon to see people reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" in public, happily getting aroused at open-eyed descriptions of spanking and extreme sex. 

The book was so successful, a movie was inevitable. But making a "Fifty Shades" film presented a few creative problems. Should it be an R-rated movie for a mass audience or a work of true erotica? Should it feature unknown actors or established stars? The movie, put out by Universal, went the more bankable route, toning down the explicit details of the book and turning it into an erotic romantic drama for adults. Kelly Marcel wrote the script and Sam Taylor-Johson directed (though Taylor-Johnson and James infamously didn't get along).

Casting took a long time, and many, many actors either auditioned for the lead roles or turned down the offer to star. Some actors weren't okay with the amount of nudity the roles required. In 2013, Variety finally announced that Christian Grey would be played by Charlie Hunnam and Anastasia Steele would be played by Dakota Johnson. A month later, though, Variety announced that Hunnam was out. He was replaced by Jamie Dornan. Some assumed he was scared off by the film's sheer amount of sex scenes.

That wasn't the case, though. Hunnam had no issues whatsoever with the sex and dropped out for more straightforward reasons. Specifically, he had to shoot "Sons of Anarchy," as he told VMan Magazine in 2015 (via Variety).

Because the auditions for the "Fifty Shades" movie took place in 2013, Hunnam was already deeply entrenched in the production of the hit series "Sons of Anarchy" (which was, at the time, heading into its sixth season). Hunnam thought he could work on "Fifty Shades" and "Sons of Anarchy" at the same time, but some changes in the latter's shooting schedule made this impossible. It was a pity; Hunnam was really looking forward to making "Fifty Shades," knowing it would not only be a big hit, but also a good way to challenge himself as an actor. He even told Us Magazine that his chemistry with Johnson was excellent and that their reads clinched his desire to do the movie. 

But then "Sons of Anarchy" began revving its engines, and Hunnam had to regrettably step away. He had also committed to starring in Guillermo del Toro's haunted house picture "Crimson Peak" right after wrapping "Sons of Anarchy," so he was stuck. Hunnam admitted to VMan Magazine that he was dismayed at having to walk away. As he put it:

"Oh, it was the worst professional experience of my life. It was the most emotionally destructive and difficult thing that I've ever had to deal with professionally. [...] It was heartbreaking. [...] I'd given Guillermo my word, over a year before, that I was going to do this film. [...] People were saying, 'Are you crazy? Guillermo still has got four months to recast, it's the fourth lead, you can go and do this [instead].' I said, 'I can't. He's my friend, I've done a film with him, I gave him my word.'"

(Recall that Hunnam had just completed work on del Toro's "Pacific Rim" when he accepted the role of Christian Grey.)

Hunnam described the devastating experience he had "breaking up" with Christian Grey. He added that he called Taylor-Johnson and they both cried for a long time over his inability to star in the movie:

"I called her, and we both cried our eyes out on the phone for 20 minutes. [...] I needed to tell her that this was not going to work [...] There was a lot of personal stuff going on in my life that left me on real emotional shaky ground and mentally weak. I just got myself so f***ing overwhelmed, and I was sort of having panic attacks about the whole thing."

So, it wasn't the sexual nature of the film at all. Hunnam had already previously done sex scenes for the TV series "Queer as Folk," so sex and nudity were not an issue. It was all scheduling. 

In a 2025 Variety interview, however, Hunnam seemed to have changed his tune a little about his experience on "Fifty Shades." Over a decade hence, he joked that he walked away from "Fifty Shades" and "never looked back." Of course, in the 2015 interview, he most certainly looked back. Hunnam also said that he had interacted with Johnson recently (via social media only), adding that "she gave me a bit of a hard time about it in a very fun way." He then went on to say, though, that when he was considering the role of Christian Gray, "I just wasn't thinking clearly," but that he has "[n]o regrets at all." 

The "Fifty Shades" movie trilogy was commercially successful but critically panned. One can only speculate if Hunnam would have made the films better.