Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story has come under fire for its wholly fictionalized portrayal of certain events and the twisting of his actual life story to reflect aspects of later stories that were loosely inspired by his crimes. However, star Charlie Hunnam, who plays Gein in the series, says he "never felt like we were sensationalizing" the tale of Gein's life.
"I never felt like we were sensationalizing it. I never felt on set that we did anything gratuitous or for shock impact. It was all in order to try to tell this story as honestly as we could," Hunnam tells EW. "If people are compelled to talk about it and think about it, hopefully they'll actually be compelled to watch the show. What I would hope and feel really confident in is that it was a very sincere exploration of the human condition and why this boy did what he did."
