Press Archive > Magazine Article > Bliss Magazine - February 
 
If being famous means having the attitude of Ali G, a nasty drug habit and an ego bigger than London's Millennium wheel, then we shouldn't really have heard of Charlie Hunnam. As he lollops into the swanky bar of Manchester's Palace Hotel in scruffy jeans and a T-shirt, he looks more like he's just finished a shift behind the bar than one of Britain's hottest young actors. Yet just a few hours ago Charlie was back on the set of QAF, filming 2 one hour specials and reviving his role as Nathan in what turned out to be one of the most controversial and most talked-about TV shows ever made. 

As we settle into a suitably anonymous corner, Charlie tells of a recent crazy night. Not only was he threatened by a madman wielding a knife and a hammer, but also a 'ridiculously tarty' tabloid newspaper reporter made an attempt to seduce him and try and get a story. Such bizarre attention just goes to show how everyone wants a piece of Charlie right now. But the boy from Cumbria seems to take it all in his stride. 

School Daze If the 19-year-old talks openly before the tape-recorder's running, he's refreshingly candid during the interview himself. "I got expelled from school." He reveals. "I went to a posh grammar school and the other kids were a pretentious bunch of tosspots. I didn't conform, so they despised me and I was completely rejected." So life in Cumbria wasn't all fun and games. "But there was this guy called Rupert who'd had a real hard life too," Charlie explains, getting his gangly frame comfy in a mammoth armchair. When he was 2 he was crawling on his front lawn and his elder brother was on a big motorised lawnmower. He accidentally ran over Rupert and cut off his arm and his other hand, so Rupert had to have his right hand sewn onto his remaining left arm." I'm alarmed but Charlie smiles with the memories of the times he shared with his mate. "Rupert hated school as well, and in our last year we just went on an absolute rampage. We'd waltz down the corridors smoking cigarettes and being really outrageous. "He says. As if to show what he means he reaches for his pack of cigarettes and a smile spreads across his face again. "My school thought I was a nobody, that I was doomed to fail from the start. But now I guess I'm proving them wrong." 

Pop Tarts A week before the interview we were up in Manchester to photograph Charlie. During the shoot it became clear that certain celebrities really irritate him. Who? Who? Who?" he asks when I remind him of his comments. Kavana? Have I said some bad things about him? (Kavana is a third rate pop singer struggling to make a singing career) He turns crimson and offers an explanation. "I was out in Newcastle and Kavana tried to like, kind of well, he was really sleazy with my girlfriend and I just thought: 'Oh, I see how it is.'" "But it's fine, I just get mad. I take my acting very seriously and I try to do everything I can to be taken seriously. So when people endlessly compare me to people like him I see it as them making a real mockery of what I do. Ask how he keeps his ego in check and he says the secret is not to take yourself too seriously. But he admits to meeting celebs who are "absolute dicks." And you pray to God you'll never end up like them. Especially the younger ones who get into the limelight. Just 'cos they're successful nobody ever wants to say "no" to them." With this in mind he avoids celebrity parties. "I don't want to go to them, as I've got nothing to say to people in the industry." And he doesn't take drugs. "When you go to these parties, you're surrounded by cokeheads. A lot of young people in the acting game or the music industry get surrounded by people who are a bad influence. Either they're not strong enough to say "no", or they feel like they need the release. But I don't want to be part of it. It's so fake." 

Boy Snogging It's hard to believe how things have changed for the boy who was modelling at 15 ("it was devastating!"), in 'Byker Grove' at 16 ("it was horrendous") and having sex with a man twice his age on TV at 18. ("We had no idea about the position of arms and legs and all that jazz!") "People in Cumbria have no spark - they're living the most mundane existences. I just thought that I never, ever want to be in that position," he says of the drive that's got him this far. But back to the TV sex... how did his mum and dad feel about watching those scenes? "Well, my mum was fine about it," he begins. "I was away working when it was on, but she used to ring me up in tears and say how proud she was of me. But my dad..." He pauses and explains that his parents split up when he was two. "My dad's an old school hard man from Newcastle, who's made obscene amounts of money from the scrap industry. Guys in that business don't mess about - it's a hard job and they're hard men, so it wasn't exactly his dream come true to see his son getting up to mischief with another man." Charlie - who's definitely a red-hot, girl loving guy. Didn't exactly find it a dream either. "Kissing Craig was really painful. It was rough, you know, all stubbly. My face was like so sore after kissing him. I think that men kiss more roughly than women and to be honest I wasn't into it at all." But unlike a lot of other so-called macho blokes, Charlie reckons he can spot a sexy guy. "I think people who say they can't have a bit of a problem - they're worried about their male pride and I just can't understand that!" Then he laughs as he adds, with a typical laddish smirk: "Of course you can appreciate beauty in everyone. It's just a matter of whether you want to shag them or not." 

Dissing Dawson Charlie's certainly a rising star. He recently spent 3 months in the States and had 107 meetings about future projects. And - get this - he blew out 'Dawson's Creak.' Erm, sorry? "I went for a reading for a part, and they wanted me in it for 2 years. But I got frustrated 'cause they brought me back 5 times and they wanted to bring me back another time. I just said: 'Listen, if they haven't made a decision yet, this is bull.'" In any case he says he wouldn't have taken it and reveals he also turned down a six-year stretch in another American series. Instead he's decided to concentrate his talents on movies, the first of which -'Whatever happened to Harold Smith?' - is released in the UK early next year. Charlie plays "a psychotic punk with bad skin and an attitude to match". But his film career doesn't stop there. - Next he'll be making 2 American films -'The Lads' ("It's about 2 young guys who get thrown together and end up fighting for their lives"), and another project, which he says he can't talk about yet. 

Love Struck It was in the US where Charlie met his girlfriend (sorry you guys!) a 21-year-old actress. "I was in LA on a power lunch," he giggles "and we got introduced. I fell in love - she was amazing - really sexy and fantastic and intelligent and beautiful. I just walked out and thought: 'Man, why didn't you get her number?'" Days later he had a call from his agent who passed it on to him. Charlie looks wistful, and I spot a ring on his wedding finger. "No, it's not a wedding ring," he says, turning a shade of crimson. As Charlie's saying goodbye, he stops and frowns. "Did you come all the way up from London just to interview me?" Of course. "What an earth for?" he asks, clearly perplexed. That alone says it about the most unlikely and likeable celeb you're ever likely to meet. 

In his own words 
Introduce yourself: "Hi, my name's Charlie Hunnam, and I'm an Alcoholic. Oh, I don't know, I'm not very good at introductions." 
Age: 19 
Middle name: Matthew 
Nick name: Angel - "As in Charlie's Angels. And my mum use to call me angel face." 
Born: Newcastle 
Siblings: Three brothers -Oliver (5) Christian (7) and Billy (22) 
Fondest memory: This cottage my grandma use to paint in. Every weekend for about four years we'd go to grandma's cottage. She died when I was seven.