Charlie Hunnam on the ‘Darkest Realm’ of Playing Ed Gein

Hunnam went to extraordinary lengths for the part. Thirty pounds lighter, fitted with a prosthetic eyelid and pitching his voice higher, he spent months in preparation. He admits he almost baulked at the darkness of the material, and says the turning point came when he was granted access to Gein’s medical records, which shed light on the factors behind his declining mental state. His portrayal has also collected Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild nods, part of a haul of seven Emmy nominations for the Netflix limited series, including two for makeup and prosthetics.

What Charlie Hunnam said about the role

Being confronted with some of those images of the crime scenes, I really started to get afraid of the darkness and what it was going to be like to inhabit that.

He was speaking to The Hollywood Reporter. Hunnam says he knew little about Gein before signing on, having spent more time researching the Mafia and the Mexican drug war than the serial killer subgenre — and did not even realise his first meeting with Murphy was about the part. If you fancy testing your own screen knowledge, try the JOE Film Club quiz.