Charlie Hunnam Bails Out of Fifty Shades of Grey Movie

Posted on October 12, 2013

Deadline reports that Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) has left the production of Fifty Shades of Grey just weeks after it was announced that he would play Christian Grey in the film version of the bestselling novel.

Universal said in a statement, "The filmmakers of Fifty Shades Of Grey and Charlie Hunnam have agreed to find another male lead given Hunnam's immersive TV schedule which is not allowing him time to adequately prepare for the role of Christian Grey."

This makes no sense at all. Hunnam would have cleared his schedule before being allowed to take the role. He also gave some pretty enthusiastic statements about how excited he was to do the role, despite the backlash his and Dakota Johnson's casting caused. So what's really going on? Did he bail out after the backlash? Perhaps he got a better look at the script? Or perhaps he decided that the movie will be the next Showgirls, e.g., a huge bomb. We suppose it will all come out eventually. But for now, no one's talking.