Why Charlie Hunnam Really Dropped Out of 'Fifty Shades'

When Universal Pictures recently announced that British actor Charlie Hunnam had dropped out of the highly anticipated film adaptation of E.L. James’s erotic novel “Fifty Shades of Grey,” it did so by stating that his “immersive TV schedule [was] not allowing him time to adequately prepare for the role of Christian Grey.”

This appeared to be Hunnam’s thinly veiled cop-out from playing the sadistic billionaire with a penchant for leather and handcuffs. After all, there are TV actors who can play complex TV characters while preparing for a major film role (Bryan Cranston comes to mind); if Hunnam wanted to play Grey, he probably would have found a way to make it happen. So why did he bow out of the project? Here are our guesses for why he really dumped the film:

1. “Show me how you pleasure yourself.” Hunnam was presumably not too keen on saying this line to his co-star Dakota Johnson, who plays Anastasia Steele. Nor would he want to be caught on camera saying, “I’m going to take you from behind, Anastasia.”

2. Oh, and he would have had to spank Johnson on film. Hunnam must have known that after that scene, he would have trouble getting a serious acting job.

3. The backlash from fans of the novels may have scared Hunnam from attempting to portray the mysterious Christian Grey.

4. Maybe Hunnam thought the movie would focus too gratuitously on his body. He’s done nude scenes for “Sons of Anarchy,” but a show about a biker gang apparently necessitates nudity more than the erotic novel adaptation he signed on for.

5. Hunnam might have been scared of becoming the next Robert Pattinson: stuck in a film franchise that he resented and constantly bombarded by the franchise’s rabid fans. Given that James’s main readership comprises middle-aged women, Hunnam probably wasn’t looking forward to becoming the next soccer mom-heartthrob.