Счастливая "случайность" случилась и для режиссёра Грея,который нашёл наконец то в абсолютно незнакомом ему Чарли (Джеймс был уверен,что тот американец)блестящего актёра для своего гг.:
"I will tell you the funny story about him. I didn’t know him at all. Because I’m a loser, I hadn’t seen anything, I am totally out of touch. I watch a movie every night, but I watch an old movie. So, I was going to make the movie with Benedict Cumberbatch. Plan B had made 12 Years a Slave, and they loved him. So we were all set to go, and then Benedict’s wife got pregnant. And she was scheduled to give birth in that huge span when we were going to be in the Amazon. And she didn’t want to do that. What do we do, build a stage in London? We’re not going to do that, build a jungle on a stage. So that fell apart. And I was sorry about it, because Ben’s wonderful
Anyway, I was all ready to leave it aside, and move on to this science fiction film that I’m going to do. Then Plan B said, do you know anything about Charlie Hunnam, he’s a very handsome, swashbuckling guy, who would be perfect. I said no – the only thing I knew him from was Sons of Anarchy. I said, I’m not going to cast an American, Lord knows, that’s all I need, to do an English movie with an American. They said, No, he’s from Newcastle, you should meet him! So I met him. My wife thought she was the handsomest man she’d ever seen in her life. And he was very engaging and really funny.
Everyone asked me if I’d seen anything else he’s done. And I said, No, and I don’t want to. I have no interest in watching his other work. He is very intelligent and very committed, and that’s what matters. He lost something like 60 lbs over an eight-week period, something nuts. I mean, he was excellent to work with, and he was so crazy-dedicated. He wound up knowing even more about Fawcett than I did!"(с)