The Brit signed on for the adaptations of E. L. James' erotic books, but had to pull out of the project due to a scheduling conflict.

• Aug 24, 2018

AceShowbiz - Charlie Hunnam has no regrets about walking away from the opportunity to play Christian Grey in the "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy.

The Brit signed on for the adaptations of E. L. James' erotic books, but had to pull out of the project due to a scheduling conflict, and he was replaced by Jamie Dornan.

Charlie, who is now promoting the remake of Steve McQueen movie "Papillon", insists he has never beaten himself up over his decision to walk away from the films - even though they would have made him a very rich man.

"I'd be a lot wealthier," he tells Uproxx. "I was gonna get paid a fortune. So much...

"But, you know, I intentionally don't look at my career from an outside perspective. My career and my life are not mutually exclusive. They're intrinsically linked. I'm really interested in the idea, which I think we explore in 'Papillon', of just accepting that life is suffering and your obligation is to learn something about yourself through this journey, and to figure out a way to use your time, if you're lucky enough to do it, in a way that seems substantial enough that it evens out the balance a little bit."

And he's not sure the three "Fifty Shades" movies and his part in them would have made him a better person.

"If I'm involved in a project that I feel excited about and it gives me a sense of purpose and it gives me a sense of creative fulfillment, that is deep fulfillment to me, and it evens out the balance for me in my own journey," he explains.

"My success, for me, is about getting to continue to work on things that make me excited, and I don't know if that (film) would have created more or less opportunity. I just don't know. I seem to have gotten a lot of kudos in a way for not doing it, but again that's sort of an outside perspective. I don't necessarily feel that way."