Press Archive > Magazine Article > Itchy London 
 
Charlie Hunnam is pretty chuffed with himself. Not only did he start his career getting in positions with Aiden Gillen that many of us can only dream about but his latest venture sees him rubbing shoulders with the delightful Katie Holmes. Corrie Mills caught up with one of Britain’s best-loved straight gay boys whilst on a quick visit back to the UK. 

Ok Charlie, so we all know this isn’t your first interview... What questions have been done to death? Are you gay? To which I reply no. And then, what was it like doing gay sex scenes as a straight actor? To which I reply... no different from doing straight sex scenes. There’s no feeling there and it’s really weird with everyone standing around watching. 

Come on though, you must have some funny sex scene stories to spill? With Queer as Folk we filmed all the sex scenes right at the start of the shoot so I spent a day and a half lying around butt naked, being smeared with Vaseline, sprayed with water and taking tips from Russell (the director) on how to bugger convincingly. It was pretty surreal. I remember at one point there being like this huge debate on the consistency of the cum that Stuart flicks off his hand in the first show... they ended up mixing shampoo and conditioner. So the sex wasn’t as steamy as it looked on screen. What about the rest? Was Queer as Folk your first gay snog? Yeah 

And... how did it rate? Rough! Really rough. Stubble everywhere. It was strange being on the other side. Since then I’ve been a lot more conscious about shaving and err... applying lip lotion. 

So you didn’t enjoy your first gay snog as passionately as Nathan, are there any similarities between you? I s’pose we look the same... And we both get on with our mums. 

OK you share your looks with Nathan, let’s find out more about the real Charlie Hunnam. Champagne cocktails or Newcastle Brown? Newc’y Brown 

True to your roots then... So do you miss home still? Yeah. You can’t get baked beans in America. 

Baked Beans? Yeah, it’s ridiculous. You can’t even get them in delis. There’s this one place that I have to drive to that’s like 25 miles from my house, which is this weird import store. And everything there is 4 months out of date... I mean I like beans but not enough to eat them out of date! So I get my mum to send them over. 

That’s a serious craving... So all you miss about the UK is baked beans? Baked beans and err... Terry Wogan 

Baked beans and Terry Wogan? Moving swiftly on, what were the first and last albums you bought? The last is easy; I bought the "Best of the Kinks" two days ago. But the first, I’m not sure. My mum would know this, hang on...He puts the phone down... she’s saying Michael Jackson. Yeah, I think it was "Thriller". 

And what song would you have at your funeral? "Come on up to the house" by Tom Waits 

Bit of a Tom Waits fan are you? Would you class him as your all-time hero then? Yeah, for his music. And also Jean-Michel Basquiat, the New York pop artist, for his visuals. 

Who’s the biggest love of your life? My wife Kate Towne. We met at a Dawson’s Creek audition and bonded over our mutual dismay at the direction of our careers. We didn’t swap numbers then but she decided she had to have me so she tracked me down and we married three weeks later. 

That’s a woman who knows what she wants. So what about unwanted attention? You must have had some pretty obsessive fans after Queer as Folk? Yeah there’ve been a few but there was one guy who was particularly attentive. He sent me loads of letters inviting me out to dinner and round to his place. Hell he even sent me holiday snaps! In the end he turned up at my house in Penrith. My step dad answered the door and pointed out that he was a little late, as I had moved to LA. 

Surely that’s not all the unwanted attention you’ve received? Well there’s always CHAP... 

Ah the Charlie Hunnam Appreciation Page, so you’re aware of it then? Oh yes, I’ve had many sick friends email me over segments of CHAP! 

It’s very 80s... Oh it’s horrific. I can’t even believe it. And you know what the one thing is that’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life? When Queer as Folk first came out they asked me to do a photo-shoot for Attitude magazine, and I thought it’d be really ironic to do these really camp poses where I’m like pouting and stuff. And now I look back and in retrospect it wasn’t so funny and that guy who made CHAP only used those photos. I’m haunted by those fucking images. 

Can you not write to him? I did! I wrote to him and said I’m Charlie Hunnam and I’ve got pictures of me naked just take those fucking pictures off the site, but he won’t budge! 

Ok Charlie, so it’s about time to say goodbye. When will we see you next? I’m currently doing Undeclared an American TV show set in a college. It just got aired and got massive ratings so hopefully that’ll screen in the UK soon. 

And what about film? I’ve made a film called Abandon written by Stephen Gaghan, the guy who wrote Traffic. They weren’t going to let him direct it but then he won an Oscar and it’s funny how that changes things... I play Katie Holmes’s ex-boyfriend who starts haunting her whilst she’s at Harvard. 

I could think of worse people to haunt me... Anyway Charlie it’s been a pleasure, can we check in with you next time you’re back in Britain? Sure. He may have kept away from British screens for a while but it shouldn’t be too long before we see Charlie’s celluloid face again. Abandon is set to hit British cinemas spring 2002