"Pacific Rim" star Charlie Hunnam is thrilled with the success of the original "Pacific Rim" film, but now that they are going to create its sequel, the actor is hoping that it would be more "story-driven" than the first one.
Hunnam played a washed-up former Jaegor pilot named Raleigh Becket who lost his brother Yancy when he was killed by a Kaiju. His brother's death destroyed Raleigh, who resolved never to operate a Jaegor again since he lost the "Drift Compatibility" he had with his brother.
While the first movie managed to tug at the heartstrings and show Raleigh's despair over the loss of his brother, Hunnam hoped that the second movie would deliver an even more compelling storyline for the Jaegor pilots.
"I think world creation and monster creation and all of that stuff is exciting as a secondary element of storytelling. When it becomes more important than storytelling, I get very nervous, and you sort of lose me a little bit," he admitted to Entertainment Weekly. "Although we tried very hard on 'Pacific Rim' to marry those two elements, I do feel like ultimately it got weighed heavier on the side of spectacle than storytelling."
He quickly added that he is very proud of the first "Pacific Rim" and that he really liked it, since it delivered exactly what it was supposed to. However, the actor feels like they could have "mayble plumbed the depths of the character and the storytelling a little bit more."
"I hope that we are able to remedy that a little bit going into the second," he said.
As an actor, it is very important to convey the necessary emotions needed to tell a story, and Hunnam believes this is far more substantial than doing action sequences and relying on special effects to impress the audiences.
"When it becomes very technical, those technical aspects create a rigidity to the process," he said. "Then all of the sudden, you have to find where your little place to fit into that process is, as opposed to the whole thing being about you."
Aside from "Pacific Rim," Hunnam is also working on Guy Ritchie's "King Arthur," where he plays the title character. One of the challenges they encountered with the character is his "blandness" given the fact that he's the typical good guy. Hunnam's version will be different though since his King Arthur will be "rough around the edges."
