> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Charlie Hunnam plays ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ - URL: https://www.smdp.com/a-womans-survival-guide-when-seeking-a-divorce/ - Published: 2003-01-04T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T01:16:18.000Z - Author: David Pisarra - Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import *By SEAN DALY Special to the Daily Press* NEW YORK CITY — Judging from posters and billboards for “Nicholas Nickleby,” you’d probably never suspect that clean-shaven star Charlie Hunnam — with his deep blue eyes and wholesome boy-next-door smile — is actually a wild and impulsive young Brit, who has already been married and divorced at the age of 22. The brief union happened last year. Hunnam was a regular on the TV drama “Undeclared,” when he began dating actress Katharine Towne, 24, a guest star on the show. They had only known each other for only three weeks when the series was abruptly canceled and they decided to tie the knot. “I was going to go back to England and we were afraid we would lose touch, so we got married as something of a lark,” he explains, with something of a guilty laugh. “We figured that we wouldn’t lose touch (this way) and we would definitely have to see each other... if for no other reason than to get divorced.” And that’s precisely what happened. By fall, legal proceedings were underway, but Hunnam and Towne (the daughter of famed screenwriter Robert Towne) remained good friends and continued to get together at least once a week. “It’s very amicable,” he said at the time. But today, as he scratches pensively on a five-month-old beard that perfectly compliments his blonde bird’s nest of hair, Hunnam is more focused on his current prospects. “I’ve been seeing a little bit of this girl, but she lives in New York and I live in LA,” he begins to reveal. Then there is a pause. “I really like her, but I don’t know how much of a future it has because we won’t get to see each other very much.” Fortunately, Hunnam has other things to keep himself occupied for now. First, is “Nicholas Nickleby.” He plays the title character in the latest big screen adaptation of Charles Dickens’classic, opening today. “I was hired to give the character something of a modern flair,” he asserts. Hunnam shares the screen with Nathan Lane, Anne Hathaway, Jim Broadbent, and Barry Humphries, a.k.a. Dame Edna. “The beauty of a classic,” says director Douglas McGrath “is that it is continuously fresh, sometimes in different ways, for each generation that enjoys it.” Filming of “Nickleby” — made on a paltry budget of $10 million — brought Hunnam to London for three months. Then it was off to Romania for half a year to work alongside Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger and Giovanni Ribisi on the Civil War-era drama “Cold Mountain,” opening next summer. “It’s about the people who were left behind in the villages during the Civil War and how they coped,” he shares. Hunnam plays a member of the Home Guard, a group of men who weren’t selected to fight, but remained behind to protect women and property and execute deserters. “My character is an albino, so he was ostracized,” he reveals. “When he gets a little power, it makes him dangerous.” Hunnam, who has never formally studied acting, spent his downtime on the set working with a private gymnastics coach, preparing for a scene where he is required to do a back flip off a horse — not an easy task for someone almost six feet tall. “I also read a lot of books, I did some horse-riding, watched some MTV and sent a lot of e-mails,” he says. The actor admits he was anxious to get back to Los Angeles, where he zips around town in a jacked up SUV and recently purchased a small house off Melrose Avenue. “I am pretty frugal with money,” he says. “I don't live extravagantly.” But Hunnam admits he does party hard. “I definitely get belligerent with my friends,” he offers with a laugh. “It’s a false cliché LA-eons don’t drink. There’s some pretty raucous people living in LA. And some belligerent people. I just don’t do it publicly.” Hunnam moved to Hollywood four years ago from his childhood home in Newcastle, England. That’s where he attended — and got tossed out of — what he calls a “stodgy boarding school” at the age of 9. “I resented so many of the students and most of my teachers,” he remembers. “They were so pretentious. I got expelled for mouthing off to my art teacher.” Fortunately, a few months later, on Christmas Eve, Hunnan was spotted by a talent agent while he was “horsing around” in a local shoe store. “He asked if I’d let him get me an audition for (the TV series) ‘Byker Grove,’” Hunnam recalls. But it was the controversial series “Queer as Folk” — about the gay club life in Manchester — that put Hunnam on the map. He appeared in eight episodes and a two hour follow-up movie (as Nathan Maloney, a gay teen having an affair with a man almost twice his age) but never in the popular American cable version, which became a cult hit two years ago. In fact, Hunnam maintains, “I’ve never even seen it.” Judging by the bad reviews and dismal box office numbers, Hunnam might also wish he had never seen “Abandon” the psychological thriller he appeared in last October with “Dawson's Creek” star Katie Holmes. “I really believed in it and then I saw the film and I wasn’t surprised that it did-n’t do well,” he admits. But Hunnam is more optimistic about the success of “Nickleby.” That’s why he plans to spend the next few days getting the word out. “I go to LA tomorrow to do some press,” he says, again flashing that innocent smile. “Then I go to Aspen to solicit some Oscar votes from those rich bitches out there skiing.” Sean Daly is president of Showtime Entertainment and lives in Santa Monica. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/010403-08_01.jpg) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 4, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010403.pdf?ref=smdp.com)