ROMANIAN HOLIDAY For his role as a member of theConfederacy’s Home Guard (local men who kept the peace inDixie while the Civil War raged), Charlie Hunnam, 23, spent threeand a half months filming Cold Mountain in the remote skitown of Polania, Romania. When he wasn’t sportingappropriately evil pink contact lenses and blackened teeth for therole, he passed the time going to Bucharest nightclubs and watchingRomanian MTV (where Pink owned the airwaves). “I was drinkinga little bit too much,” says Hunnam, “and after thatgot boring, doing very little else.”
LONDON CALLINGPerhaps Hunnam might want to hang on to the contacts and the fake teethfor his visits to his native England, where he’s still remembered forhis (occasionally arse-baring) role as a gay 15-year-old in theoriginal version of Queer as Folk. “Just last week in London, Ihad a guy tell me, ‘You must be gay — the camera doesn’t lie.’ Ialways have to deal with people screaming ‘faggot’ at me in the street,and that kind of ruins your day.”
HOLLYWOOD AND WHINE Back in America, Hunnam enjoys puttering around his newly purchased home in Los Angeles, but choosing a worthy follow-up to Cold Mountainhas proved difficult. “Most days I wake up and think, How the fuck am Igoing to kill the day?” he says. “Last week I turned down a project fora million dollars, and that’s the third time that’s happened this year.I grew up poor, and it’s driving me crazy.” Until he takes one of theseroles, he may be the only prospective millionaire living on a steadydiet of ramen. “I’m broke,” Hunnam says. “I’m budgeting $150 a week forfood so I can pay my mortgage.”
