Vasquez/FAMEFLYNET PICTURESCharlie Hunnam is further explaining why he backed out of the lead role in Fifty Shades of Grey, only this time he's opening up about the internal struggle he faced when he said goodbye to the opportunity to be Christian Grey.
"I was going to finish Sons [of Anarchy] at like 11 p.m. Friday night, get on a plane Saturday morning to Vancouver for Fifty, missing the whole first week of rehearsal and start shooting Monday morning," he shared in an interview with Moviefone.
"And I was going to shoot that film, wrap that on the Wednesday and the following Monday I was going to start shooting Crimson Peak in Toronto. I just had like, frankly, something of a nervous breakdown."
Hunnam continued, "I just said, 'I can't…I can't. To fail on such a grand scale—because Fifty's going to be massive, it's going to be huge. I really didn't want to fail on such a grand scale and I just couldn't transition from Jax to Christian Grey in 48 hours."
The actor, who was later replaced by fellow Brit, Jamie Dornan, admitted that the decision to pass up the role wasn't something that he took lightly.
"I bit off more than I could chew and it was painful. I loved the character and I wanted to do it."
Shortly after the casting switch was announced, Hunnam broke his silence with E! News, saying, "I am doing good. I am just really concentrating on work. It's been a really busy time," he said.
"I have had some family stuff going on so just trying to stay focused and stay positive and keep trying to do a good job at work and be with my family and stay positive."