Category: Articles

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Game of Thrones’ Rory McCann on series 3

SOURCE: The Scotsman
AUTHOR: Andrea Mullaney
DATE: 28 March 2013
ORIGINAL: Click here
ARCHIVE: Click here

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AT LAST month’s Glasgow Film Festival, the biggest queue for tickets – down the street from the Glasgow Film Theatre and back up again, with a few hundred turned away disappointed – was to see an episode from a TV show which most of the audience had already seen on a smaller screen, and an unspecified cast member.

But Game Of Thrones’ popularity goes even further than the usual cult audience: the series has become a mainstream phenomenon. It marries the big-budget, high-quality attention to detail and gritty realism that America’s HBO channel has become known for with the fascinations of an invented world, loosely based on Britain in the time of the Wars of the Roses, but with added magic.

Trailers for the upcoming third season (shown here on Sky Atlantic) have been avidly scrutinised: one had 16 million views in a week. The number of subscribers to HBO, which had previous hits with Sex And The City, The Sopranos and The Wire, has increased and George RR Martin, the source books’ author, has been signed up for a prequel series and perhaps other shows.

Since Lord Of The Rings, the fantasy blockbuster has been big at the cinema, but previous TV shows set in magical worlds have tended to be lighter, family-friendly fare. A funny viral video doing the rounds recently showed the difference by re-editing the Game Of Thrones credits in the style of 1990s knockabout Saturday morning fare Hercules: grinning heroes, comical sidekicks, a bit of swordplay or thrown punches, but everything ending happily.

That is really not Game Of Thrones’ style: from the frequent deaths (Ned Stark, played by Sean Bean, the biggest name when the show began, meets a grisly end in series one; they even broke the cardinal Hollywood rule that The Dog Always Survives) to the annoyingly gratuitous female nudity thrown in whenever an exposition scene might otherwise drag. But leave aside the dragons, smoke monster and warlocks, and the story’s probably a more realistic take on the Middle Ages than some: the show gets across the arbitrary dangers of war, the gulf between the wealthy and the poor, the constrained role of women and the general grubbiness of everything.

It’s a complex, dark tale, based on a sprawling, ongoing book series, which on screen conveys an ambitious scope, switching from the icy landscapes of the far north of its land, Westeros, to the warmer climes of the south and east. With a large cast of characters – though Peter Dinklage, who won Emmy and Golden Globe awards as the clever and vulnerable Tyrion, has perhaps proved to be the main breakout star – and separate storylines filmed in different countries, there’s a mammoth production behind the show, with a reported budget of $6 million (£4m) per episode.

The cast representative at the Film Festival, to the delight of fans, turned out to be Rory McCann, who plays the scarred and bitter killer known as The Hound. He’s just one of the many Scots involved – others include Richard Madden, James Cosmo, Iain Glen and, in wardrobe and props, McCann’s own sister and brother-in-law. It’s partly a remnant of some series one filming here and subsequently in Northern Ireland, partly the story’s rough concordance with the British mainland where “beyond the Wall” represents the untamed Highlands.

McCann – a slightly shy, intense man often cast for his imposing two-metre (6ft 6in) height, whose previous roles include Scott’s Porage Oats adverts and The Book Group – entertains the audience with anecdotes and a contest to win his battered copy of one of the novels. But afterwards, he’s clearly still trying to get his head around making public appearances – it’s only his second fan event – and the popularity of the show itself.

“I feel I’m not very articulate sometimes,” he says, “but some of the answers are starting to come quicker. I am not that comfortable but kind of feel that I have to do it, not for a fee but it’s very humbling to be asked. Especially when I think of all the times of trying to get a bit part in Taggart and not getting it.

“I’m part of an amazing show and would quite happily have been a spear carrier at the back – which I thought in a way I was at the beginning, until I started to read on. I’ve played many a bouncer or a spear carrier. At least I’ve got a character name and don’t die on page 20.”

In fact, the episode just shown on the GFT’s screen is the first one he’s watched all the way through. “I don’t have Sky,” he says flatly. “The people I hang around with don’t have Sky either.” And no, he couldn’t just get the DVDs, as it transpires that McCann’s life – when he’s not filming – is almost as spartan as his character’s. He lives alone “on a boat” most of the time, which he sails around Scotland, stopping off in remote places like Knoydart. And his approach to playing The Hound – a character of few words – is as serious as a method actor’s.

“It’s all about this job. I know it’s coming up every year and I’ll not take another job before I’m shooting, because there’s a right good chance I’m gonna have a stomach upset or something. Anything that could affect this is out, I want to be on form. So much so that at least two months before filming, I literally phone up all my friends and say, ‘Don’t phone me at all till the leaves fall off the trees.’”

“I have no contact at all with anyone. I’m on my boat, training, rehearsing, I spend all my energy on the job that’s coming up and I found that’s the way that works for me. The more energy you have on set the better you’ll be, it’s all about being alive in that moment and listening. So most of the time I’m just curled up trying not to talk and conserving that energy. Or hanging off a mast on my boat in a stormy sea trying to shorten my sail and thinking, ‘Maybe this is irresponsible…’”

All this, in an age when many actors are tweeting their upcoming screen appearances or being seen at a string of red carpet events, makes McCann something of a throwback. He frequently references the time a few years back when, fed up with the only acting offers coming in, he took off for Iceland and spent a year working as a carpenter. “I don’t have a mortgage, I don’t have a wife and I don’t have kids, so I’m quite happy bumbling along. I try not to do any crap. The last thing I was asked was to play Samson in a Biblical film – well, I’m not getting down to my pants and doing religion,” he shudders. “I’d rather go and chop trees.”

Yet, as part of a successful TV show that everyone wants a piece of, that’s probably not going to happen. For all McCann’s ambivalence about the showbiz life, he’s agreed to meet with “people who maybe want to employ me” in Los Angeles. “It’s not my place at all, but I think it’s the right thing to do. It would be wrong to say no,” he says, uncertainly. “I don’t know if I’d want to move there and I can’t be working down in London, it kills me – it’s the noise.”

McCann and the rest have already finished filming the ten episodes of series three, which is set to ratchet the excitement up even higher as the plot thickens. “You’re gonna love it,” he teases. And, going by the show’s success so far, he’s probably right.

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Dog Soldier

SOURCE: SFX
AUTHOR: Will Salmon
DATE: January 2013, see Note below
ORIGINAL: Print-only, no online original.
ARCHIVE: Nothing on Internet Archive since no online original.
NOTE: I had seen this around as a screenshot or a scan in various places on Pinterest. As of July ’23, I no longer remember where I finally found the entire article. It might have been a very clear screenshot, or perhaps I found the magazine this hails from. Whatever the case, there seems to be no online version of the article. Except possibly here and in a couple other places where fans put it up so it would be readable.

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He ain’t nuthin’ but the Hound. Will Salmon meets Rory McCann to talk Thrones, werewolves and being “Yarp”…

Rory McCann sounds a bit gruff today. You might not be surprised to hear that about Sandor Clegane aka the Hound — one of the toughest men in Westeros — but there is a practical reason.

“There was a fight scene that I was involved in — a sword fight. We were training with the stuntmen for over three weeks to do this thing. I was training really hard. There’s a lot of screaming and shouting.” That explains the two days of ADR (additional dialogue recording) he’s just completed. “It’s been the longest session I’ve ever done. Normally you’re done in half a day with my character, but this time… I think it’s a reflection of the fact that I’ve got a bigger part this year, I dunno.”

So, more to do for the Hound, a big impressive sword fight… It sounds like circumstances have drastically changed for the man who we last saw leaving King’s Landing under a cloud. “It’s expanding, and I’m coming into my own, character-wise,” he says. “I’ve moved away from this big staffed castle, with hundreds of people, and it’s turning into almost a road trip — with a few skirmishes along the way!” I’m now imagining Dude, Where’s My Car? with decapitations.

“It’s great fun. I reveal my character a little bit more now. I mean there’s even a chance of humour for the Hound this year. You wouldn’t believe it, but it’s true! I only saw that in playbacks last week. There were some people laughing, but it was okay to laugh. It’s all good.”

Rory McCann had an unconventional introduction to acting. The 6ft 6in Scotsman left school and joined the Forestry Commission. After working as a tree surgeon, he moved into rope access jobs, one of which was painting the Forth Rail Bridge [sic: Forth Bridge], west of Edinburgh. A documentary was made on the men who abseil off the bridge every day, and Rory was there, singing away. Someone spotted him, and offered him an ad for Scott’s Porage Oats. That, in turn, led to a number of small roles (you can spot him in the second episode of the rebooted Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) playing a bouncer, and he was an extra in Willow [sic: you will never see him in Willow, as he was fired from set for laughing during takes]), before his breakthrough performance as wheelchair-bound Kenny McLeod in The Book Group — a role that earned him a Scottish Bafta. Hollywood beckoned, and he has since carved out a bit of a niche for himself as a sword-wielding warrior, appearing in Alexander, Solomon Kane, Clash of the Titans, and, er, Season Of The Witch.

But perhaps his most memorable movie role, at least for SFX readers, was 2007’s Hot Fuzz, where he played Michael “Yarp” Armstrong. “That was a pleasure,” he smiles. “I remember them going, ‘He really is Yarp!’ because I was the custodian of a castle.” Wait… what?

“For a while, I was living in a mock castle in front of a real castle. There was a giant wheel in the lounge. All I had was a chair, a grand piano, a giant German Shepherd and a fully dressed Highland dummy called Rab. He was my only friend. My job was to see who was calling before I opened those two giant oak doors. I was the guy that would open a smaller door within the big door and say, ‘YOU RANG?'”

Er… okay. “So I got the call. I didn’t really understand how big the part was. I thought, ‘Well, you never know, John Mills won an Oscar playing a village idiot.’ I went along and I heard who was in the cast and it was fantastic. And I knew that I wouldn’t be up worrying about my lines, because it would just be ‘yarp’. Simon and Nick were really good fun, and all the old characters… Edward Woodward! And lovely Jim Broadbent. That was an easy job. It was great.” So he’d work with Edgar Wright again? “The last time I saw him was in Iceland and he was dancing with Björk — I’d jump through any hoop for him.”

BLOOD AND WATER

But back to the Hound. Sandor was last seen departing the battle of the Blackwater, having made everyone cheer with his declaration, “Fuck the Kingsguard, fuck the city, fuck the king!” So how is he going to cope away from King’s Landing? “He might hit the bottle hard after leaving,” Rory says. “That [the episode ‘Blackwater’] was incredible. It was a night shoot for a start, and it went on for at least a couple of weeks. Night shoots are hard enough for a few days, but when it lasts for weeks… The weather was atrocious, but the DOPs loved that. Armour and rain really work, apparently. They like the glow and the sparkle and the water, but it led to problems. There were rivers that weren’t there before, and extras lying in pools of mud and blood and water… People were half hypothermic. It was wild.”

That episode was directed by Neil Marshall, best known for his horror movies The Descent and Dog Soldiers. “I’m terrified of werewolves,” Rory says with a chuckle. “I understand some people find it very funny, but I can’t watch it! Neil’s known for very good blood and gore and I think that’s why he was brought in. He was great to work with.”

It’s becoming ever clearer as the series progresses that there’s a streak of nobility in the Hound. “Well, it’s a thought that he’s more of a true knight than any of the others. Even though he’d never want to be a knight — he can’t bear them — he believes in their values. But listen, he’s not all good. He’s done some terrible things. Mostly under orders, though…”

Ah yes, orders from Westeros’s demented boy king. “He doesn’t like Joffrey, but he does what he’s told. But maybe that’s changed now… the Hound at the moment is an outlaw.” But while Sandor may hate Joffrey, Rory is full of praise for the man who plays him, Jack Gleeson. “He’s a very clever, witty, fun guy. He’s a good magician, y’know? He likes slight [sic] of hand and stuff like that. Quite old-fashioned in some ways. The first time I met him he was smoking a pipe! He’s such a great actor, a nice guy and he plays, so convincingly, a little shit!” So convincing, I’ve heard rumours that he occasionally gets grief from angry viewers. “If I knew someone was giving him hassle, I’d rip their bloody head off,” Rory growls. Yikes.

But what about Sansa, the young Stark who Joffrey has specialised in tormenting. It’s fair to say that the Hound has a soft spot for her. But why? Is it paternal? “He’s seeing the similarity to his own upbringing,” Rory says, referring to Sandor’s troubled backstory. “There are memories being brought back of being bullied by his brother, and he hates that. And she’s everything that he isn’t — there’s a purity there.”

Some fans have speculated that he might have a romantic interest in her. “A fondness and stuff… I don’t think there’s any of that, really. He’s protective and frustrated at seeing her living in airy-fairy land.”

GETTING INTO CHARACTER

In reality, Rory is a genial, funny and charming man, very different to his taciturn character. Today he’s wearing a natty red scarf and navy beret that you can’t imagine the Hound ever going near. Getting into character is a long process of physical exercise, hours in the make-up chair and concentration. “It still takes about an hour and three quarters to put on all my stuff, so I’m usually the first in actor-wise.” Not that he’s complaining. “We haven’t got the longest shifts. People like make-up and wardrobe, anyone like that… they’re the first in and the last out. They’re the hard workers really. We’re still pampered.”

In terms of exercise, Rory foregoes a personal trainer, preferring to run five or six miles a day and hit the gym in the evenings. “And I don’t smoke, and don’t drink for at least three months before a job. I’ll phone up my friends and tell them not to speak to me until I’ve finished, because they drink too much! I’m quite reclusive at the best of times but when I’m working, you never see me. I feel like a soldier training, or something — it’s all about the job. I had to bulk up this year because I knew it would be particularly physical. That fight was the hardest thing I’ve done so far. We did it in intense heat and I’m carrying so much armour with this costume. But it paid off.”

Ah yes, back to the fight. It must be tough wearing that much clobber. “Yeah, yeah… I can’t pick it up. The wardrobe department needs a wheelbarrow to carry my costume around! There’s so many layers and ropes and stuff, and a big cloak. It’s all good fun!”

And being on the road brings its own set of problems for the Hound. “The main thing is that I’ve got very rusty armour, so everybody can hear me coming! I think there was some page oiling and cleaning his armour every night, before. There ain’t no page in the countryside. You can hear him before you see him now: squeak, squeak, squeak! I think that’s why I’ve been in the sound studio for so long.”

Can he tell us who he meets along the way? “That’s a total spoiler. I’d have my bollocks cut off if I told you,” he grins, and says no more.

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Game Of Thrones: Sophie Turner On Sansa Stark’s Blackwater Bravery [Excerpt]

SOURCE: Access Online
AUTHOR: Jolie Lash
DATE: 29 May 2012
ORIGINAL: Click here
ARCHIVE: Click here
NOTE: Excerpt only, just because I like the little side conversation about Rory. Obviously, go to the original or archive links to read the rest.

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Access: Speaking of music, Rory [McCann, who plays The Hound] told me at the very beginning of the season that he had a guitar on set and the kids on set would ask him to play songs from ‘Glee.’ Is this true and were you a part of it?

Sophie: Oh, I didn’t know this… I remember once, we were in Scotland and we were shooting the pilot, Rory got up on the piano and started playing in this bar in Scotland and everyone was joining in. It was really nice.

Access: He seems like a fun guy, but I would be weary of his pranks.

Sophie: Rory? Yeah, I can definitely see this. He’s a really cool guy though. He’s so nice and I don’t think he gets enough credit for his work. He’s awesome. I love him.

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Starfury Throne Con [Excerpt]

SOURCE: JacMac’s Blog
AUTHOR: Jackie MacPherson
DATE: 20 March 2012
ORIGINAL: Click here
ARCHIVE: Click here
NOTE: Only part of this article is about Rory and I’m not feeling a need to reproduce the whole thing. If you want to read the whole thing it’ll be at the original-article or archive links above. Also, for an accompanying photo album with lots of good Rory shots, click here. Same guy, same event.

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Rory started the weekend wearing the Hound helmet t-shirt which got a cheer. I nearly dropped my camera during his first talk when he shouted “look at me!” Another common request was “Yarp!” 😉 He says he’s always recognised in Scotland as the porage man and apparently judged a porage cooking competition in my home town where he had to try porage with herring in it. Bleurgh. He also talked about his sister and her work on Game of Thrones (I didn’t know she did!). She works in the costume department and occasionally they’ll bump into each other and have a mini giddy moment. She also helped out on the Beowulf film that was shot in Iceland with Gerrard Butler.

Rory loves living on his boat and wants to sail it to Belfast instead of staying in the hotel. He’s not sure DnD will let him though. His dream is to get the boat kitted out enough to go sailing around the world. Rory also makes his own Sloe Gin with a little help from the fairies. I had no idea that there’s such secrecy on the whereabouts of sloe bushes!

He seems to be a man of opposites. He loves his isolation and shuns the lime light but also seems to have a desire to perform. He and Miltos sat with Louise and I on Sunday night blethering away. Great chat and lovely guys. Most memorable fact to find out about the big man, he used to be in a band with Carol Smilie which included fire extinguishers and capes! That’s probably more amusing for UKers who know who Carol Smilie is 😉

I asked Rory what it was like working with Jack Gleeson. He says he’s really a lovely young man who’s studying philosophy at Uni at the moment. On the Saturday he admitted to being a bit of a joker on set. He’s been known to be on all fours in front of the Iron Throne woofing away, rolling over and getting his tummy scratched. He also likes to steal people swords just before a shot.

//Spoilerish question
He’d expressed regret his audition scene wasn’t in season 1 and how maybe one day he’d get to do something like it. I asked how the SanSan relationship was going in Season 2. He said there had been 3 options that they tried out and have gone for one that well the fans will just have to be happy with. He seemed to hope they would be.

He also stated he’s really looking forward to working with Maisie.
// End of spoilerish questions

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Rory McCann – Sandor “The Hound” Clegane, Game of Thrones

SOURCE: Geek Chocolate
AUTHOR: Michael Flett
DATE: 19 March 2012
ORIGINAL: Click here
ARCHIVE: Click here

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Concealed under heavy makeup as Sandor “The Hound” Clegane, Knight [sic] of House Baratheon in Game of Thrones, Rory McCann may not be immediately recognisable, yet he has an impressive list of credits stretching from the drama of Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, Oliver Stone’s Alexander and Shameless to the comedy of Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz and The Book Group for which he won a Scottish BAFTA award. On Sunday 18th March the imposing yet personable actor was kind enough to sit down to a pint of Guinness in the bar at Birmingham’s Hilton Metropole Hotel while attending Starfury Throne Con.

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Geek Chocolate – Glasgow is fast becoming a major filming location for its architecture, its scenery and its amenities, with World War Z and Cloud Atlas shooting there over the last year, and the city now has its own successful film festival. How far do you think a homegrown film industry can develop?

Rory McCann – Well, the talent is there. Scotland is ready to take on anything like that, I’m sure. It’s very frustrating that it’s not a regular occurrence, every week. There’s all the facilities just sitting there, all that talent. It’s a small world, the film industry, and when I travel around the world, I’m meeting Scots working in the industry, spread out all over, and they can’t get any work back home.

GC – You’ve worked with many of the big names of Scottish film, David McKenzie, who directed you with Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton in Young Adam. What are your reflections on them?

RM – Young Adam was a nice little break for me. I knew David socially in Glasgow before, and I was hoping I would get a call, just for something, and I got a little part in a great film, and I got to meet absolute heroes of mine, in particular Peter Mullan who inspired me to be an actor, I would say, watching him in My Name is Joe, for example.

I’ll never forget being on set on the first day, I was very, very nervous, there was a knock on the door, and there was my hero, Peter Mullan, and he looked up at me and said “You’ll no have had your lunch, big man, do you know that we’re on afterwards?” And I said nervously, “Yeah I know we’re on afterwards, I’m not having any lunch.” And he said “Do you know there’s a pub just a few hundred yards up the road, why don’t we just go for a pint,” and he put me at ease. And that’s the kind of man he is.

And I met Tilda Swinton, and Tilda Swinton was absolutely fantastic. What an amazing woman she was. She actually found me my first London agent. So that was just a wonderful experience.

GC – The experience on an HBO show must be quite different to the normal television routine.

RM – Yeah, it’s obviously so much bigger, in budget, in size, but the one thing which I’m only starting to understand is directors are coming in for different episodes, and that can throw you a little bit, because everybody works on different wavelengths. It’s very good for your job in a way, as it keeps you on your toes. That’s the big difference that I’m seeing. But they are still very open to changing things, and they have great knowledge. It’s great to be on HBO, it’s absolutely fantastic. I would say it’s better being on HBO than being in films.

GC – And the content is quite different, too. One of our writers refers to the show as Game of Boobies. And that’s just Jason Momoa, I think.

RM – Aye, that’s Jason for you, god bless him. Game of Boobies as in because there’s a lot of boobies in it? Yeah, there is a lot of boobies going about. I had friends watching Game of Thrones the first time, and I’m getting a few phone calls going, “Hey, big man, you never told us there was nudity, I had to throw my kids upstairs after the first ten minutes.”

GC – So the beheadings didn’t bother them?

RM – Exactly. What’s that all about?

GC – You filmed in quite a few locations for the first season of Game of Thrones and you’ve indicated that the second is even more epic. What can we expect?

RM – We were in Malta, a little bit of Scotland, and Ireland for the first, and for the second we moved to Croatia and Iceland, and everything got bigger, and the storylines got bigger. People who were on set in the first series, had a few lines, their first jobs, were coming back as kings and queens, and everything has just totally exploded. I just still can’t comprehend how they’re managing to make it understandable, that there are people following it, even the people who haven’t read the books are understanding this epic that’s going on. It’s wonderful, it’s very, very exciting.

GC – And you’re reading the books yourself. How far ahead are you, and have you spoiled anything for your castmates?

RM – I am staying ahead of the game, just and no more. I’m nervous to think that it might end for me, so I’m staying just ahead. I do know the story for the next season, fingers crossed, if it goes ahead, and a couple of new actors I’ll be working with I’m very much looking forward to.

GC – You got to meet George RR Martin on location on the pilot, carrying your copy of the book with you.

RM – Yes, that was a funny experience. I like the outdoors, and I like my own company, and before I was an actor I was a lumberjack, and I remember at mealtimes, everywhere we were spread in the forest, all the saws would stop, and there was silence, and it was the time to read The Lord of the Rings for an hour, and I did the same thing with George’s books.

I went out to the wilds, round a fire, in the wet, in the rain, in the woods, and I read that book, and I read it again and again, and I found out that I had got the part, obviously, and when I did meet George, the book was literally twice the size and smelt of stale woodsmoke, and I remember he grabbed it and said “What the hell have you done to my book?” and remember saying, “George, this is how you’re meant to read it, round a fire at night, in the drizzle.”

GC – Despite being in an environment rife with treachery, the Hound is one of the characters who stands up to do the right thing, specifically I’m thinking of the jousting scene in the first season when he stands up to his brother. Can we expect more of that?

RM – You certainly can. It’s going to be double trouble with the Hound standing no nonsense, no bullying, in the thick of it. There’s going to be battles this time. There’s been a real call for proper battles and he’s going to be drenched in blood for most of the time, so it’s a very exciting time for the Hound’s story.

GC – Excellent. I understand your armour causes a lot of problems with the sound.

RM – Yeah, that’s a problem. There’s a lot of rattling around, you just can’t do anything about that. There’s chain mail bouncing off pieces of metal, other bits of armour, never mind the poor swords and all the people about, and that’s always been a problem. Shakespeare said “Do not sully too much the night,” but you can’t help but move a little bit, and any slight movement, there will be a squeak or something, and unfortunately sometimes this means you have to go six months after the event and record the sound over again in a studio. Microphones are getting better these days, but the problem is still there.

GC – Is your lip-synching becoming any easier now you’ve been doing it for a year?

RM – I’ve really always struggled with it, but I’ve got now a system. I’ve worked out how my brain works, and I don’t look at the screen at all now. I close my eyes, I listen to the line how I said it, and just by ear, recreate it right away, and don’t look at my lips. I remember the sound recordist in London doing it recently said “That’s exactly how Cate Blanchett works,” I said “Well, if it’s good enough for Cate, it’s good enough for me.”

GC – Between Game of Thrones, Season of the Witch, Solomon Kane and Clash of the Titans you’re doing well in the fantasy genre. Is that something you particularly aim for, or something your agent feels it’s easy to place you in because of your appearance?

RM – It’s such a physical medium. I’m a big guy, put a sword and some armour on me and I look the part, I suppose. No wonder I get a chance to audition for these parts, which is always a pleasure. My first job was as an extra on Willow.

GC – You must have been fairly young.

RM – Yeah, I was young, I was sixteen, seventeen, living in caves in Llanberis Pass in North Wales, moving around out there, and I was climbing and I found a film set in a slate quarry that I was climbing in two weeks before, and a castle there. I arrived, and there was all the locals and an American shouting at them, this casting man, and he said, “Look, thanks guys for all coming, we really do appreciate it, but there’s no more parts unless you can ride a horse,” and I thought, I can’t ride a horse. And he said, “We only need two more people, they’ve to be tall and they’re playing drunks.” And I stood up and I said “I’m Rory McCann from Glasgow, and I’m six foot six,” and I got the job.

I worked with Pat Roach, who was inspiring. I wasn’t that big at the time, but suddenly I saw that a big man could get the job, and that’s the first time that I met Val Kilmer, and thirteen years later I was in a hotel room with Val Kilmer, holding a script, going “Do you know how you work with stone, this is how you work with stone.” And another six years later I was in the exact same quarry that I had been climbing and an extra in Willow in, and I was a featured artist on Clash of the Titans. It’s amazing how it goes, and I’m so grateful, and it’s just the way my path is at the moment.

GC – You’ve played piano for a while, and you’re moving into guitar, banjo and mandolin. Do you think you’ll ever have the opportunity to use those skills on Game of Thrones or another show?

RM – You never know. I would say if there was any chance on Game of Thrones it would be the mandolin, because it’s part of the lute family, but would the Hound be picking up a mandolin? My god, he’d have to be throwing his sword away. Will he ever throw his sword away? I don’t know, maybe the readers know that, I don’t know.

GC – One of your directors on the show is Neil Marshall, who made Dog Soldiers and The Descent, but they’re not your kind of films, you said.

RM – I can’t watch. I get so frustrated. The amount of times I’ve gone to cinemas and realised I’ve spent literally sixty percent of the time looking through my fingers or going “la la la la” and not looking at the screen. I’m a big scaredy cat and I can’t watch horror. I tried to watch Dog Soldiers once and it terrified me. I think it would be different doing scary stuff when you’re an actor, but as a viewer I get really involved, and that’s just the way it is.

GC – One last question. If Edgar Wright ever called you up and offered you a role in another film, what would you say?

RM – Well, I think I would only say one word, and I think you know fine well it’s a big yaaaarp!

GC – Rory McCann, Sandor Clegane, the Hound of House Baratheon, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk with us.

RM – It’s a pleasure. All part of the service.