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Charlie Hunnam got recognised for Sons of Anarchy in a prison

Of all the places you wouldn't want to get recognised, Charlie Hunnam pretty much hit the jackpot when it came to his known Sons of Anarchy character.

Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy

Sons of Anarchy shines a spotlight on some pretty dodgy characters. In fact, we’d say that some of the on-screen figures in the drama series are probably some of the most dastardly ever to grace the small screen.

But that doesn’t mean that the Sons of Anarchy cast aren’t easily humbled in the right circumstances. Charlie Hunnam, in particular, had a rather frightening experience on a visit to a prison.

When asked in an interview with Huffington Post what the strangest place he had been recognised was, Hunnam certainly had a memorable response.

“I went to look around Eyman Federal Prison in Arizona,” he says. “It’s a huge super-max prison. We were in the wing that was separate from the super-max wing. The only way you could get into this wing is by killing another inmate or attempting to kill or killing a guard whilst in prison. So these were dudes who had already committed murder, then had committed additional murders but usually of prison guards. I just kind of wanted to be as anonymous as possible.”

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“We walked into the super-max wing, which was like an old school three story box with metal bar cells. Not a lot of prisons are like that anymore, totally old school. Everyone was hanging on their bars and shouting at us. I walked in there and the level of tough energy, just violence, was so intense. I was thinking I hope no one recognises me. So I heard, ‘Yo, Jax, where Abel at, homie?’ It was just when Abel had been kidnapped. So this was probably just after season two. There’s no weapons or anything they could use but they’ll throw piss or semen or whatever at you, just anything to ruin your day.”

“I didn’t want to look at this guy. But his energy was so intense and he kept staring at me and staring at me and staring at me. Finally, I unintentionally caught his eye and then it was locked in this. And that haunted me for a while because I thought that guy knows who I am. He’s probably never getting out of prison but it was the clearest, purest personification of evil. That guy had killed five people while he was in prison. But he would draw me in to his stare. I thought that was kind of weird.”
Yikes — sounds intense. Though considering how tough his on-screen persona in Sons can be, it’s not hard to imagine that he managed to hold it together.
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