And the actor will be more likely to embrace the role instead of wondering what he got himself into. Putting an unknown in the movie won’t diminish that. “Fifty Shades” is in an even better spot. Before the million-channel universe, Hollywood in fact did this with some regularity: look at how Edward Norton, to take one example, came out of nowhere in “Primal Fear” to make that a movie hit. The studio and James already took that route with the female lead in Dakota Johnson, a young woman who is an acting newbie for all intents and purposes, having had bit movie parts and a run on a quickly canceled network sitcom. The 33-year-old actor stepped out for his first official appearance since the Fifty Shades of Grey casting news at the Sons of Anarchy sixth. And, paradoxically, he probably won’t give fans fits, because they won’t have a body of work to judge him by. Charlie Hunnam is ready to take on Christian Grey. And there’s the possibility of cold feet, after a budding star realizes he doesn’t want his career to bud in that direction.Ī total unknown, on the other hand, won’t be weighing career options, because this is far and away the best one he’s got. Fans already have preconceptions, which leaves the fallout to deal with. Once the likes of Ryan Gosling aren’t signing up and you’re working your way down the list, the name of the actor isn’t likely to make a big difference at the box office anyway.Īnd in terms of talent, well, it’s hard to imagine that there isn’t a stage actor or a British actor or a recently graduated acting-school actor who doesn’t match the skill set of Hunnam or have the chops to pull off what the, um, not-exactly-OrsonWelles-like role of Christian Grey calls for.Ĭhoosing a solid cable-TV star, as Hunnam is with his turn as Jax on “Sons of Anarchy,” could work out fine, of course. James, director Sam Taylor-Johnson and the producers (which include the veteran team behind “The Social Network”) didn’t do that in the first place. At this point, filmmakers would be best-served going with a total unknown. In fact, there’s no magic bullet for whom to cast, and offering a litany of names is unlikely to have any effect, no matter how many fan sites try to do it it just can’t take into account the myriad, legal, scheduling and plain human-relationship factors that go into a casting decision.īut there’s one bit of counsel that does make sense.

Charlie hunnam 50 shades of grey