Monster's Charlie Hunnam found the one "obscure" unreleased Ed Gein tape during research
The actor made the discovery as he was preparing to play the serial killer.
Most actors who appear in a dramatisation of a true story research the real-life person behind their character, but Charlie Hunnam arguably went one step further when preparing for the lead role in Monster: The Ed Gein Story.
The third instalment in Netflix’s anthology series follows the prolific serial killer Ed Gein, who murdered a number of women and exhumed bodies from graveyards in the 1950s.
Despite the wide notoriety of Gein’s crimes, there are no public videos or tapes of the trial that Hunnam could have referred to in his research.
There were rumours of one tape being recorded during his imprisonment but no one could track it down. So, Hunnam set out to.
“There is one tape that's very obscure that was never released because a) Ed never stood trial for his crimes because he was deemed medically unfit because of his psychological disorders,” he told RadioTimes.com.
“But they'd also never read him his Miranda rights, and he was also beaten up while he was in jail and so these tapes were just sort of put in a drawer and never released to the world. I'd heard about them, but nobody could find them.”
He added: “I ultimately did find them, but only about three or four days before we started to shoot.”
It was a historic discovery, but Hunnam had already set about crafting his own unique accent for Gein of a “gentle, high-pitched voice”, which he created through his own research prior to filming.
Part of his introduction to the story which he knew “very little” about before being cast, was a “three-hour” deep dive into the history of Gein’s crimes from director Ryan Murphy.
Read more:
- Monster: The Ed Gein Story's Charlie Hunnam reveals the reason behind his unique accent
- Charlie Hunnam defends Monster: The Ed Gein Story, says Netflix series is not gratuitous
Even though Murphy had been enthusiastic about the project during their meeting, Sons of Anarchy actor was surprised when Murphy asked him to take on the lead role.
“Two hours in,” Hunnam continued, “there was this moment where he said, 'So would you like to play him?' And I was gobsmacked. I had no indication that that's where this conversation was leading to.”
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is now streaming on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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Authors
Jess Bacon is a freelance film, culture and TV critic and interviewer who is obsessed with everything from Marvel to Star Wars to the representation of women on-screen. Her work has been featured in publications such as Rolling Stone, GQ, Stylist, Total Film, Elle, The Guardian, Digital Spy, Dazed, Cosmopolitan and the i. She’s also interviewed the likes of Zendaya, Brie Larson, Amy Adams, Dan Levy, Aaron Pierre and Brian Cox. In between overanalysing her favourite new comfort watch or internet trends, she’s working on her debut non-fiction book.
