By Alastair James
Copyright thepinknews
Charlie Hunnam has shared that he faced questions about his sexuality from his family after his breakout role in 90s gay drama Queer As Folk.
Hunnam stars as Ed Gein in the upcoming third season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series, Monster. It follows on from the successful first two seasons that covered the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer and Erik and Lyle Menendez.
Ahead of the debut of Monster on Friday (3 October), Hunnam spoke to Variety about developing the character of Ed Gein, a killer who inspired stories like Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
He also touched on his early career, including his role as Nathan Maloney on Russell T Davies‘ Queer As Folk. The groundbreaking series explored the lives of gay men living in Manchester and debuted in 1999.
Referencing Queer as Folk, Hunnam, who is straight, told Variety the role came with some unfortunate consequences. He mentioned being hassled in public, including one altercation at Preston station “that looked like it was going to escalate into violence.”
Hunnam also shared that his father, “an incredibly tough scrap-metal merchant” in Newcastle, where Hunnam grew up, “didn’t quite get” the show. The actor told Variety: “He asked if I was gay and if this was representative of the life I was living.” Variety reports Hunnam’s father “eventually came around.”
Discussing his father elsewhere in the profile, Hunnam explained that “he was sort of a king in our city,” given his role in one of the city’s big industries. “He wanted me to take over his business, and I just knew that I wouldn’t be able to survive in that world.”
He described disappointing his father as “a wound I had to carry,” later healed by working on Sons of Anarchy. Over its six year run the series focused heavily on themes such as parent-child relationships, brotherhood, and loyalty.
Ed Gein, aka the Butcher of Plainfield, was a serial killer and body-snatcher who was active in 1950s Wisconsin. When authorities arrested Gein in 1957, they discovered he had used human remains to craft household items and clothing.
Gein admitted to the murder of two women but was suspected of killing more. He died in a mental-health facility in 1984.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix from Friday 3 October.
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