Charlie Hunnam says he had a nervous breakdown over Fifty Shades of Grey

While there is always speculation about why some actors do what they do, it’s always best to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam has finally provided an explanation to why he stopped down on playing Christian Grey in the FIFTY SHADES OF GREY movie. He cites scheduling conflicts and anxiety issues as contributing factors in his decision; the actor made headlines when he landed the role last year and then again when he dropped out just two months later. So what happened?

Talking to Us Weekly he said:

"I wouldn't have signed up in the first place if I didn't want to do it. It was a really, really difficult time in my life. I had already been attached to Crimson Peak for about 14 months, which I said, I was going to do with Guillermo [del Toro]."

On his relationship with director Sam Taylor-Johnson:

"Sam and I just fell in love, creatively, we started talking about this thing and I just felt so excited. I fell in love with the character and started seeing him and becoming intoxicated, which is the way I work: I find a character I love and I start thinking about it all the time."

As crazy as it sounds, Hunnam was playing three different characters during this time:

"I was going to finish [filming] Sons at like 11 p.m. Friday night, get on the plane Saturday morning to Vancouver for Fifty, missing the whole first week of rehearsal and start shooting Monday morning, and I was going to shoot that film, wrap that on the Wednesday and the following Monday I was going to start shooting Crimson Peak in Toronto. I just had like … frankly, something of a nervous breakdown."

And so two months later, it all came down:

"I just said, 'I can't … I can't …,' "To fail on such a grand scale — because Fifty's going to be massive, it's going to be huge. I really didn't want to fail on such a grand scale, and I just couldn't transition from Jax Teller to Christian Grey in 48 hours. It's painful because I loved the character and I wanted to do it. I'm also a man of my word."

The safe answer is always scheduling, but the fact that Hunnam waived humility aside and shared his fears basically is pretty refreshing to see these days. We’re lucky to have had an answer at all because I’m sure he’s tired of talking about it. He sounds like a man of his word and this one has to hurt because the spotlight was BIG for this movie. He called it a “s**t situation” and he’s right; but now it’s over. So we can now look forwarding to skipping FIFTY SHADES OF GREY on February 13, 2015.