Charlie Hunnam has shared details about how he came to play Ed Gein in Netflix’s latest installment of the Monsters series, which started with a two-hour dinner meeting with director Ryan Murphy.
After agreeing to take on the complex role, the Sons of Anarchy actor admitted he quickly felt he might have made a ‘horrible mistake’ in his decision.
Even though he is not typically drawn to the horror genre, Hunnam was captivated by the opportunity to work with Murphy, which led him to accept the role of the infamous Wisconsin serial killer—though Gein was only officially linked to two of the nine deaths he was suspected of before his death at age 77 in 1984.
The acclaimed director, who has won six Primetime Emmy Awards, extended the offer to Hunnam to lead the next Monster series.
Reflecting on their conversation, the 45-year-old actor told Entertainment Weekly: “I just found myself saying yes. Based, I would say like 99 percent of it, on just how much I liked Ryan.”
However, soon after, Hunnam was overwhelmed by doubt.
“Once I said yes to this, I thought I’d made a horrible mistake,” Hunnam admitted. “I started researching it, reading all the books about Ed Gein, and I fell into a full panic. I just thought there might be no coming back from this. This is so dark, to inhabit this character.”
For those unfamiliar with the infamous murderer and grave robber, more details can be found here.
Luckily for Hunnam, he was able to move past these initial reservations.
“There was sort of a breakthrough when I started reading the scripts and realizing that we were not going to be focusing on what he did and doing a deep dive on that, we’re really gonna be focusing on why he did what he did and trying to find the human being behind the monster,” he said.
Hunnam continued, “There’s like a human thread that connects all of this that you go like, right, that was a really bad avenue that you went down as a consequence or reaction to this thing that you experienced, but I understand what it was that you experienced and how that feels.”
He added, “And so it was sort of building on from that and just trying to make it human and honestly trying not to judge him, but being careful not to have too much empathy for him – it was a real tightrope to walk.”
While understanding the character is one thing, it’s challenging to feel empathy for someone who committed such heinous acts as wearing his victims’ faces as masks.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available to watch on Netflix.