Charlie Hunnam misses Christian Grey: Sons Of Anarchy star speaks of 'heartbreak' at rejecting Fifty Shades Of Grey role

The Fifty Shades Of Grey movie came in for some sharp scrutiny by fans after Universal Studios selected Jamie Dornan to play the character of Christian Grey. The Irish actor ended up playing the role after Charlie Hunnam rejected it, but now the Sons Of Anarchy star has finally opened up about what a difficult time he had making that decision.

"Oh it was the worst professional experience of my life. It was the most emotionally destructive and difficult thing that I've ever had to deal with professionally. It was heartbreaking," he told V Man magazine via Pop Sugar.

Soon after being cast in the BDSM-themed movie, Hunnam dropped out ofthe highly-anticipated three-movie series as he was busy with Kurt Sutter's biker saga along with his upcoming movie Crimson Peak. The popular actor reveals he cried for nearly 20 minutes while breaking the news of rejecting the role to director Sam Taylor-Johnson (who left the trilogy after directing the first part). The movie could have sent his SOA fame to a new high and made him a box-office champion, but his tight work schedule forced him to take the difficult decision, and sadden millions of his fans.

"I was going to finish Sons, shoot the whole sequence where Tara was brutally murdered, fly to Vancouver the next day, have 10 days of rehearsal, and then start shooting. Then I was going to have three days after that and I'd have to start shooting Crimson Peak and then I'd have two days to travel and go back into season seven of Sons," he told the magazine.

It was thought that the 35-year-old English actor got cold feet upon learning about the intense sex scenes he needed to do, but Hunnam says these scenes aren't new to him. "The outside perception of that was that I got really cold feet and got scared of the explicit nature of the sexuality of the piece. When I was 18 I was getting f*cked in the ass, completely naked on national TV."

Fifty Shades Of Grey, the British-American erotic romantic film, premiered in February this year and went on to become a global blockbuster by earning $569m worldwide. The movie brought instant stardom to its lead cast Dornan and Dakota Johnson, who are currently busy with the pre-production of its sequel, Fifty Shades Darker.