Charlie Hunnam has revealed what he said to the grave of Ed Gein after portraying him in a new series.
The Brit took on the role of the serial killer for the latest season of Netflix’s series Monster, focusing on his horrific crimes.
Similar to the past iterations, which focused on Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers, The Ed Gein Story has already faced backlash and controversy, with some viewers quickly saying they are ‘needing therapy’.
And amid some of that are the things Hunnam has said about Gein, who was confirmed to have killed two women by the time he died and suspected of killing seven more.
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The actor previously described the killer as a ‘gentle monster’ - which he has since clarified to LADbible - and decided to go say ‘goodbye’.
During an appearance on The Today Show, Hunnam explained that after filming in Chicago, he decided to stay for a week ‘and sort of decompress’ before feeling ready to go back to see his partner, Morgana McNelis.
“And it was about an eight-hour drive up to Wisconsin from where I was to where Ed grew up and where he’s buried,” he said.
After he died in a psychiatric hospital aged 77 in 1984, Gein’s grave was placed in Wisconsin, and Hunnam reckoned it was a ‘good conclusion to go visit’ and be able to say what he ‘wanted to say to him’.
Apparently, the 45-year-old told Gein that he ‘hoped we had told his story honestly at the very least, and [I] didn’t invite him to come on the journey with me moving forward’.
He added: “I was ready to say goodbye to him and that be the end.”
According to his interview with AP, that ‘goodbye’ meant spending ‘a lot’ of time at the killer’s grave and talking to him as though he ‘was someone you knew who had died’.
“Like a regular person visiting a relative at a graveyard,” Hunnam explained.
Speaking to LADbible, the actor addressed the ‘backlash’ he’d faced for being ‘too empathetic’ to Gein.
Discussing a ‘deep-responsibility’ to playing a real person like the murderer, the actor said: “My job is to try to understand Ed and as honestly play him as possible and frankly requires a little bit of courage.
“Because I know that people are going to think that I was overly sympathetic, or maybe too empathetic towards him."
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available to stream now on Netflix.
Topics: Charlie Hunnam, Netflix, TV, True Crime, Ed Gein
Jess Battison