Success is having ability to keep moving forward: Charlie Hunnam

By Durga Chakravarty

Singapore, March 9 (IANS) Hollywood actor Charlie Hunnam believes that the defining characteristic that determines success in showbiz is the desire to be a storyteller with purity and authenticity. He says success is having the ability to keep moving forward and going to work.

Asked about the most futile aspect of being a star, Hunnam told select media including IANS here: "I would say almost everything about being famous is somewhat futile and irrelevant. Fame should be the perfume of great deeds. I've been in this business for 20 years and it seems the defining characteristic that determines success in this business is the desire to be a storyteller with purity and authenticity."

"Success in this business is predicated on wanting to do as good a job and being compelled to tell stories and those that come in coveting fame and money and all the trappings of that tend to crash and burn really quickly."

Hunnam, 38, who has acted in films including names such as "Pacific Rim" and "Cold Mountain", said acting is a fairly difficult job, and it's fairly difficult to sustain a career over many years.

"Really, the only success is having the ability to keep moving forward and going to work. That really is the greatest success of an actor's career," he added.

He will next be seen in Netflix's original film "Triple Frontier", which is slated to release on March 13. The film, directed by J.C. Chandor, tells the story of five former Special Forces operatives, who reunite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated multi-border zone of South America.

"Triple Frontier", which had a theatrical release on March 6 in the US, also stars Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal.

Asked about doing away with the idea of toxic masculinity in the post-#MeToo era, Hunnam said: "I don't believe that it is a celebration of toxic masculinity. It's a specific story about specific people and just the reality is that contingent of this area is dominated by men -- the special forces. It is slowly changing now...

"We certainly explore that question whether or not the mission would've unravelled the way it does if there had been more gender equality in it... in a woman's point of view."

(Durga Chakravarty is in Singapore on an invitation by Netflix. She can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in)