Charlie Hunnam: The Number One Reason Why You’re Not Succeeding

I grew up in a very economically depressed place, and I was really struck at a young age by the fact that everybody just was sort of in survival mode. One has to really believe in the films one's making, like, and my heart has to be in it. This is our lives. This is what we spend all of our time doing, so let's embrace it and have the best time we can.

Need motivation? Watch a top 10 of Believe Nation. What's up, it's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe in you. I believe you have You have an amazing gift inside you that I want to see explode out into the world. So let's get your motivation to a 10 and get you believing in you. Grab a snack and chew on today's lessons from a man who went from being the son of a scrap metal worker and having his parents divorce at the age of 2 to becoming an actor best known for playing Jax in the FX series Sons of Anarchy. He's Charlie Hunnam, and here's my take on his top 10 rules of success. Enjoy! All right, let's kick it off with rule number 1: Make it happen.

I grew up in a very economically depressed place, and I was really struck at a young age by the fact that everybody just was sort of in survival mode, and people weren't really bringing forth the intention for their life, you know. And then I got moved when I was in my mid— in my very early teens from a place where I was quite popular and had a robust social life to a place where I was not popular at all and had no social life. And it was a very rural area, so I spent an enormous amount of time alone when I was a child, when I was through my teenage years, which was sort of brutal at the time, but it was a wonderful period of incubation where I knew I wasn't happy there. So I started conceiving what I wanted my life to be, and I, and I sort of retreated into film, which was my sanctuary. So that isolation and my my love of film intersected and all of a sudden, like, this dream of becoming an actor.

Rule number 2, my personal favorite, believe in what you do.

When I think and talk about acting, I'm much more comfortable talking about it in terms of being a craftsman that learns a trade and tries to improve one's skill set through a career and apply a craft to it. You know, it makes me a bit nervous when you start to get highfalutin and talk about art and being an artist, but at the same time, one has to really believe in the films one's making. Like, my heart has to be in it, and I have to just be genuinely excited the way anybody who would love a book or loves a movie. When I'm sent a script with a character at the center of it, I have to love that person and be so excited creatively about being involved. And there's no part of this business that has attracted me to try to acquire wealth or fame. I really care deeply about storytelling, and I want to tell the stories that I feel passionate about telling. And I'd rather just stay home if those jobs or opportunities aren't available to me.

Rule number 3 is do something new.

I felt like I'd just been doing a lot of the same thing, kind of playing, like, a lot of tough guys and interesting roles, but they all felt very similar. And I just kind of felt like I wanted to do something completely different. You know, I read it and thought, man, I don't know if I can change gears this rapidly, you know, because I was kind of stuck in Sons of Anarchy world. And Jordan was just relentless in his pursuit of me, and he wrote me a really lovely letter, and we went and met a second time and a third time, and then I just decided, you know, why not?

Rule number 4 is be obsessed.

I really feel very fortunate to do the job that I do. I mean, my obsession has always been film, and so when I, when I get a job, particularly a job as demanding and as great an opportunity as this one was, that always becomes my obsession. And while I was shooting this, really, it was— there was never one second from the beginning to the end of production that wasn't dedicated directly to this. I mean, I switched my phone off, switched the computer off, and didn't have any technology, no distractions for 4 months. I didn't make a single phone call. I didn't send an email to anybody, like including my girlfriend. I just was very, very singular in my focus.

Bet she loved that, not hearing from you.

I've got a very, very understanding and supportive girlfriend.

Rule number 5: Create a great working environment.

It's very, very warm. It's raining. It's 10 minutes late. Oh, fuck you! There you go, mate. You know, Lionel articulates this really beautifully and is a huge advocate of having fun at work. You're on these things for 2 years. Do you really not want to have fun on it? We got big old feet. You know what they say about big feet? Yeah. Big socks. This is our lives. This is what we spend all of our time doing. So let's embrace it and have the best time we can. Check. You have no arms. I think that is. It's all over, young man. Is it? Is it, mate? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Checkmate. Checkmate. Checkmate. That's what it looks like to get beaten by his boss. I haven't been home at all in 7 months. One must create a family wherever you can, and that's what we did here. Just to be part of Guy's gang, to be surrounded by good people, hard-working people, and that's nice. It's been nice to have formed genuinely firm friendships. Would it cost a lot to call it a day? First and foremost, become really good friends. And sort of second to that is the creative relationship that we have. We were just out in this gorgeous place and with each other the whole time, and ideas would come up over dinner around the campfire at night, and we'd talk about a scene. And that's been an amazing lesson working with Guy and Lionel, is that it also seems to be that the best work comes out the more fun you're having.

Rule number 6: Work with awesome people.

But you know, there's, there's a part of the editing process that I think makes actors very, very nervous because we come in with an idea and a hope of what we want to try to convey and imbue in the characters that we play and try to participate as much as possible. And then we leave the process and it gets assembled and reimagined and it evolves in the editing room. So What I've learned over my career is that you have to be very careful with who you decide to work with because you have to trust that they're gonna have good ideas in the editing room. And this was a grand departure from what, what we were doing on set, but it was very, very exciting. And, and I must say, um, I, I'm an enormous fan of Guy's, and I have been for many, many, many years. So I, I sort of anticipated that something exciting was going to have happened in the editing room. So it was, it was exciting to go and actually see what Guy had come up with. And, and I, I was very, very happy.

Rule number 7: Be an adventurer.

We had to, um, we had a very— we got caught in a very, very violent storm, uh, and I thought that that was sort of the point of us being there, to be in these incredibly difficult environments and to film it and see what happened. But everybody got panicked because there was bolts of lightning crashing around all around us and torrential rain coming down. So they decided we need to evacuate the set immediately because we were about an hour up a river from the closest road. We were like in the middle of the jungle and everybody got very panicked. And I was violently imploring the production to keep shooting, that this is what we'd come here for. And then a lightning bolt hit a tree from me 25 feet from me, and the impact of it knocked me off my feet, and I fell into the river. And I thought, okay, maybe we should go. Maybe it's time to leave at this point. So we had, you know, we had some experiences, but to me it was all just so exciting. You know, those experiences were what this whole film was about and why we had gone all the way to rural Colombia, to the jungle, to shoot it. So You know, for me, every challenge just made it feel like we were on the right path.

Rule number 8 is work hard.

He just said, "Get ready." And I said, "What does that mean? That's pretty ominous." And he said, "Just get ready." And then I saw what he meant. You know, he's got more energy and more passion for the process than anyone I've come across in Hollywood, and he's wonderful, but he is a total slave driver, you know. And, you know, like, just for instance, you know, it's, you know, it's kind of like sleight of hand in a certain way. He, you know, he presents these things like, oh, it's going to be amazing, man, we're going to actually build the Khan pod, you're actually going to do it. I said, yeah, that sounds fantastic, because I was nervous about the green screen and The less you have to pretend, the better it's going to be. And then I got in it and I was like, oh, can we not green screen this? I mean, it was horrible being in that thing. Like, really, I'm not even joking. Like, it was horrible. We— it was like being on an elliptical for 14 hours a day while wearing a suit of armor that weighs 40 pounds while Guillermo sprays fire at you and 250 gallons of water a minute. And I was like, wow, this is intense. And I was in that for 27 days, so it was pretty intense.

Rule number 9: Don't compromise.

I remember reading a few years ago that you were developing a script for Vlad, and I'm just interested in— oh, because it's such a cool story to begin with— if you are working on, you know, developing that, or is there any other projects in the works?

I mean, I've been, I've been trying to stay quite busy in that regard, uh, so I have, uh, I have 3 projects aside from Vlad that I've been developing, and I've set up at studios that, you know, it's very hard to get films made in this day and age, and so Vlad, we tried really hard. I was working with Plan B, Brad Pitt's production company, that have been enjoying an enormous amount of success recently, but we sort of ran out of steam on Vlad. So I'm hoping that— it's an expensive film to make, and my vision of it was quite uncompromising. I wanted to tell the historically accurate version of Vlad without, in my opinion, jumping the shark and actually going into vampirism, which wasn't as attractive or exciting for the studio that I had sold the project to. So we found ourselves at a little bit of an impasse, and because of that, the energy sort of fizzled. But I'm hoping that Guy will at some point, you know, continue hiring me and I become a big old movie star, and then I'll have the weight to pull it out of retirement. And maybe if Guy and I don't kill each other by the end of the day, someday he could maybe have a crack at directing it. There's no more time for any more questions, Charlie.

And rule number 10, the last one before the bonus clip, is have fun.

Have you ever had an embarrassing username?

I used to knock around some chess forums as a teenager, as a young man, and my name was Mantis. And used to say— people used to say, why is your name Mantis? And I'd say, dance with the mantis, know your slim chances, which is a Wu-Tang line, which is—

I thought was quite good at the time, but sort of Used a fake name?

Like right now in this hotel, because there's lots of—

you have to, don't you?

People will try to, you know—

can you give us a name that you've used before in the past?

I used to go by Dr. A. Noose Checker.

Okay. Have you ever used someone else's toothbrush?

I am an enormous germaphobe. I wouldn't even use my girlfriend's toothbrush. Brush. That's just disgusting.

I've gotten a tattoo.

I got a tattoo when I was 18, so I had just moved to Los Angeles. I'd just fallen in love for the first time, and it felt like, like a real coming-of-age moment. And I had— I kept having this dream over and over, like maybe had it a dozen times, of the tattoo that I have on my back in exactly the position. While I was having the tattoo done at 11 o'clock in the morning, I said— she said, you know what we should do? We should 'Go to Vegas and get married.' And I said, 'Oh, that sounds like a jolly nice idea.' So we drove to Vegas and got married. So that ended up being my wife. So that tattoo ended up being a really bad idea for many reasons.

Now I've got a special bonus Charlie video clip for you about fighting for your opportunities. But before that, my question of the day is I want to know what is your favorite Charlie Hunnam role and why? Leave it in the comments below. I'm really curious to find out. Thank you guys so much for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon, and enjoy the bonus clip.

You are a good King Arthur. Solid choice. I was talking to Guy, and he said you were not on the list initially. I threw my name in the hat to play Arthur, and he threw it back out, and I I said, "Wait a minute, all my hopes and dreams and imaginary friendship that I'd created just crumbled to the ground." He said he thought you were too skinny. When I finally arrived, so I got— I said, "Screw this, I'm getting on a plane. Just get me in for a cup of tea with him, and I'll convince him to let me audition for the role." A cup of tea? Yeah, that's how we do it in England. That's how it happens? Yeah, yeah. A cup of tea? A cup of tea, mate. Yeah. Wow, okay. That's how we roll. So, yeah, so I showed up, and I was on the last flight season of Skins of Anarchy where— I don't know if you know that show— but I— the character that I played— okay, well, yeah, I don't want to assume anything. I got you. So the character that I played had to endure this massive trauma. He'd lost his wife, and so I wanted to lose a lot of weight to show like the physical trauma that he'd been through. And so I showed up to meet with Guy, and we started to like each other. We started to see me, and I said, all right, I'm in here. And then we ground to a halt. He said, "But you're just too skinny. Like, what's with the physique?" And he started bringing this up time and time again. I said, "Listen, it's just for a role. I'll get thick again." And then the final time he brought it up, which was during the audition— these things are sort of, like, unpleasant, these, like, screen tests. There'll be a room like this.

Oh, yeah.

I've been in them. And there'll be, like, 4 or 5 other actors there, and we'll all sit in a group— They kind of look like you. They all have, like, a different Bizarro World version of yourself. It's messed up. At the beginning of it, you're just in a hallway and you're all sitting next to each other. Like, "Hey, what's up?" "Oh, yeah." Yeah. It's like— "He's got a nice beard." "Nice beard." So there's a little bit of that going on. And then when you get to the next level, which I'm sure you know, then you're in separate rooms waiting. But you're still aware of each other and you pass each other in the hallway. So anyway, he finally— Guy brought up this sort of fear about my physicality. He called me salty one more time, and I said, listen, pal, if you're that worried about it, let's just call this audition off, and you can bring those other jokers in here, and we'll fight, and whoever walks out of the room gets the role. And there was a moment where he went, I like you. All right, read the scene again. And so I think that's sort of the moment that I got the role. Raise your standard. Apple, at the core, its core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. Not one drop of my self-worth depends on your acceptance of me. I don't ever give up.

I'd have to be dead or completely incapacitated.

Hey, Believe Nation, if you want to see my all-time favorite top 10 rules of success, I have a very special secret video for you. These are the individual clips that I have I've personally learned the most from and applied to my life and my business. Check the link in the description for details.