Sons of Anarchy Creator Suggests His Lead Actor Should Stick to CSI

sons-of-anarchy-charlie-hunnam.jpgSons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter: best showrunner ever or best showrunner ever ever ever? In today's TV climate, suddenly executive producers like Damon Lindelof and Shonda Rhimes can become nearly as famous as their stars, and Sutter definitely deserves a higher profile for his hilarious candid takedowns of the Emmys and litigious bikers. Now, he's finally getting that attention, but it's for criticizing his lead actor.

The ball was set in motion when Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam voiced a common TV actor's lament to the Chicago Tribune:

"There's a philosophy here, which I don't always agree with as an actor, that it's better for actors to know as little as possible," he explained. "I actually don't agree with that because most of my experiences in acting are in film, where you know all of the answers going in, and you make your choices accordingly."

He added: "Keeping actors in the dark is not always the right move, because without knowing the direction that something's going, one can make slight mistakes. There has to be a big, psychological leap to get to where you're being taken."

Sutter then took to Twitter to defend himself and tweak Hunnam:

i share big story arcs with my actors before we start shooting. try to bring them up to speed emotionally, so we're all on the same page. the specific plot twists and turns are not locked down until i'm into my draft. that means the actors don't know until they get the script. i regret some of my cast feel that the writers are conspiring to "keep actors in the dark" that's not the case. we are doing the best we can. i love my cast and try to challenge their talent with quality writing and deep, 3-dimensional stories. that effort requires focus and time. perhaps if they were doing a network procedural they'd have a showrunner who could tell them everything and assuage their apprehension. i'm not that guy. SOA is not that show.

A few hours later, Sutter walked it back a bit:

Just talked to Charlie. Press twisted his words to get a headline (shocker). Never intended to suggest unrest. All good in the mc hood. Of course no one will pick up the tweets that suggest the media whored a story for more blog hits.

Well, probably not, but perhaps Sutter himself should have checked in with Hunnam before he checked into Twitter. Then again, where's the fun in that?

'Sons of Anarchy' Creator Defends His Style of Storytelling [EW]



Comments

  • Wellie says:

    In this day and age when most interviews are taped, does anyone really believe the Chicago Tribune "twisted" Hunnam's words for a salacious headline? This is like Chloe Sevingy and The Onion AV club all over again.

  • Jan says:

    Who cares anyway-- this is the BEST show on TV and I love Jax and the whole "club". I am counting the days to September 7th.

  • Jeff says:

    Wow, Charile's quote doesn't suggest any real negativity towards the show or Sutter at all really (The press twisted his words? Don't see that at all.) and of course Kurt has to come out with more pricky sarcastic little barbs (He went back on his 1st comment, but still). I watched the 1st season of S.O.A. and found it to be painfully dull so I haven't watched it since, and things like this and Sutter's whiny insulting little rant about the show not getting any Emmy nods (GOOD) only make me think I made the right choice. Screw him and his lame show.

  • TurdBlossom says:

    You know how they say your first and even second response to someone else's comment is probably questionable and that you should never send out an email until you've sat on it a bit or had someone else read it over?
    Twitter negates all of that.

  • Not surprised at all that a newspaper would "twist" words of an interview to get a better headline.
    I hate doing interviews because you never know if a reporter is going to use a sentence or two out of context and write an entire story based on a "misunderstood" partial statement.
    It was Frank Sinatra that once said he would rather send out a copyrighted press release that could only be printed in it's entirety, than do an interview with a reporter.

  • DIRTBIKECOWBOY says:

    Oh please- ALLEN24,
    While I'm not going to comment of the actions of any actors or writers, UNTIL YOU have had your words twisted, tweaked, misquoted, embellished or simply had a statement bastardized just to fill space under a photo, YOU REALLY DON"T HAVE A CLUE how often interviews are manipulated by reporters.
    I guess some people actually believe everything that they read in print. It's kept the supermarket tabloids on the racks for years.
    Did you also believe the story about the aliens taking over planet earth. Go line your house with foil and wait for the next big "100% accurate news story"

  • Brendan says:

    I really like this show, but the worst thing about it is Sutter. He does not fit that role, he's too pretty looking and he walks like a caricature of an inner city street thug (think Jar-Jar Binks). Two seasons in, I don't see how they could get rid of him but it is strange how I love everyone else on the show but him. All this drama is much ado about nothing here, he didn't say anything wrong but if the producer for whatever reason were to get rid of him, I wouldn't miss the guy.

  • When I think of Sweet Sixteen, I think of pink...but maybe I'm old-fashioned. I would love to someday have an all pink tea party with a sandwich loaf covered with pink- tinted cream cheese, a pink cake, all decorations pink. Sound crazy? Yep..but fun and pretty 🙂