Category: Articles

SOURCE: The Guardian
AUTHOR: Graeme Virtue
DATE: 29 March 2013
ORIGINAL: Click here
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Rory McCann has done his fair share of cleaving as Sandor Clegane. But, like his fanfic-inspiring antihero in Westeros, this Scots actor is a soulful sort of fellow

By his own admission, Rory McCann is a big man, and he’s struggling to adjust to the heat of Santa Monica. The towering Scot who plays Sandor “the Hound” Clegane – foremost sword-swinging badass in a series not lacking on that front – is in LA for a Game Of Thrones premiere and goblet-clanging celebratory shindig, along with 23 other stars from the show. “So about 20% of the cast,” he chuckles.

The ever-expanding character list of HBO’s blood-spattered epic has become a running joke: season three adds Diana Rigg, Paul Kaye, Mackenzie Crook and more to the pool of Britain’s GoT talent. But in Westeros, the medieval-ish land of fleshpot diplomacy and lethal realpolitik described in George RR Martin’s fantasy doorstops, there’s a high degree of natural wastage. Just ask Sean Bean.

The Hound has done his part to keep the population down, cleaving folk in twain with grim efficiency. With his Freddy Krueger face and disagreeable fealty to a callow king, Clegane should be a clear-cut baddie, someone to hate just as much as spiteful nyaff Joffrey. But under all the scars and muck, there’s a soulfulness to McCann’s performance. Whenever the Hound edged towards heroism – like saving young Sansa Stark from sexual assault – it sparked off a new round of breathless fan fiction. And when, at the end of season two, he memorably resigned from the post of royal bodyguard – “Fuck the king,” he muttered – everyone was suddenly on Team Hound.

So, newly unleashed, where is Clegane’s head at for season three? “By disrespecting Joffrey publicly, he really signed his own death warrant,” sighs McCann. “He’s essentially an outlaw.” In the simplified economy of Westeros, surely his deadly skillset would make him attractive to potential employers, even without a reference? “There’s probably not many people who can overpower the Hound,” he admits. “But he’s got issues, he’s the product of a brutal past. He needs therapy. Or maybe he just needs a cuddle.” A hug looks unlikely: McCann is something of a hulk already and trained for over three weeks for a one-on-one fight scene in Season Three that he claims will change the Hound forever.

The idea of the Hound as a wandering ronin echoes McCann’s unconventional lifestyle. He’s accumulated a collection of swords and armour from his various roles in historical and fantasy movies such as Solomon Kane and Clash Of The Titans, but doesn’t have anywhere to display them. “Home for me is my boat, really,” he says. (It’s currently moored in the Highland region of Wester Ross, a place that inspired the young George RR Martin.)

McCann’s first acting gig was 25 years ago, when he stumbled across an open casting call for Ron Howard’s Willow while hitchhiking in Wales. Soon he was standing next to the legendary Pat “Bomber” Roach in a quarry trying to look like a fearsome warrior. “I was a bit of a late developer and everyone was saying, ‘Whatever you do, don’t shave,'” he recalls, “and I hadn’t really started shaving. I remember rubbing the soot from a kettle on to my bumfluff to make it look more like I had a beard.”

In his time, McCann has also worked as a painter on the Forth road bridge and – just before booking his Game Of Thrones audition – he was lumberjacking, an axe-swinging furlough that seems pretty appropriate. He regularly misplaces his mobile phone – “Although no one seems to mind,” he says – and while he’s taking a series of meetings in the US, he sounds more excited about getting back to his boat. “I’m in the process of replacing all the rigging, so soon I’ll be able to get out there and do some real high-seas sailing.”

The Game Of Thrones books are subtitled A Song Of Fire And Ice, and more music is creeping into the TV version. McCann approves of a bawdy drinking song recorded by the Hold Steady, and there are grubby cameos from Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol and Will Champion of Coldplay. Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, also reprises his role as an executioner, although he offered the Hound axe advice of a different kind. “I’m just looking over at the guitar I take with me when I’m travelling,” says McCann. “Wilko signed it and gave me a couple of lessons, told me never to use a plectrum and just bash it till my fingers bled. I swear to God he put magic dust in that guitar. Just by him touching it, I’m sure I got 15% better. He’s an incredible guy.”

But what about the Hound? Under the scowl, does he have an untapped musical side? “He’s not just a loner sitting in the corner looking grumpy all the time,” says McCann. “I can see the Hound maybe rattling up a song when he’s absolutely upside-down with drink. I’m not saying he’s at the piano or playing the ukulele, but I’m sure in the right situation he’d be giving it laldy.”

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.

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.

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

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.

SOURCE: Access
AUTHOR: Jolie Lash
DATE: 23 February 2012
ORIGINAL: Click here
ARCHIVE: Click here
NOTE: Rory didn’t quite have it correct about the meaning of his surname. Look here. Also, he’s 6’6″, not 6’7″.

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As Sandor Clegane, aka “The Hound,” on HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Rory McCann plays one of the brawniest – and at 6’ 7”, one of the tallest — men in all of the kingdom of Westeros, but on a wintry day in late February, the actor himself is feeling a little shorter and a little less sturdy.

“I was feeding birds outside and I was wearing inappropriate footwear, shall we say,” the Scotsman recounts to AccessHollywood.com, via phone from across the Atlantic. “It was pouring down with rain and I ended up slipping and falling down a hill. I should have gone with it instead of fighting, and now I’m limping.”

It’s by chance he shares this soggy story of injury with Access, but it’s a rather telling tale. His own dedication to braving the elements to look after hungry, wild birds during a cold European winter lightly reflects the journey of Rory’s character, who has his own little bird to look after in dark times – Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner).

As Season 1 closed out, after prince-turned-king Joffrey Baratheon ordered one of his henchman to strike his betrothed while they were perched atop a perilously placed bridge in King’s Landing, a wild idea flashed across Sansa’s crystalline blue eyes. She clocked the steep drop and Joffrey’s place on the bridge without any sides, but The Hound read her expressions. Despite being Joffrey’s protector, he quickly stepped in, saving the in-mourning redhead from doing something quite impulsive and dangerously regrettable.

Sandor says very little, but Rory, who calls the role “the greatest part I’ve ever been given,” knows for his character, actions speak louder than words.

Lucky for Access, Rory himself has plenty of stories to share, and as we continue our countdown to Season 2, he hints at how things will take shape for Sansa and The Hound as King Joffrey settles into power.

AccessHollywood.com: Joffrey is the king as we begin Season 2. How is that going to change things for The Hound this time around?

Rory McCann: Well, I don’t think The Hound likes Joffrey, but he’s doing his job looking after him. The power, as you can imagine, will be going to [Joffrey’s] head and the real bully will be coming out, and it will be raising all sorts of memories for The Hound — the way that he was bullied. And you’ll be seeing the relationship between Sansa and Joffrey deteriorate — seeing the bullying that’s going on and again, The Hound will be able to link that to his childhood as well.

Access: Did you try and read the books or did you rely on the lovely people on set who are researchers for learning more about your character’s back story?

Rory: I tried reading the book, and I read the book and then I read the next one, and I’ve read three now. I’m staying just ahead of the game… And as for the research thing, on set? [It’s] fantastic… A lot of the time, either [executive producers] David [Benioff] or Dan [Weiss] would be on set and [could offer] just a confirmation of what my character was thinking and why he’s doing this and that was fantastic. There’s no guessing. The information was always there. I even went into some forums with the fans. They know the characters so well and I picked up a few tips, a few pointers from them, as well.

Access: That’s amazing. All right, so The Hound has an interesting relationship with Sansa. How is that going to work, going forward, as he sees Joffrey grow in power?

Rory: He’s going to be in conflict, I think. I think he wants to look after Sansa and totally understands her position, but he’s also in a position [of] — if he steps in, he is risking his life… I think in the first season you can see with Sandor and Sansa, that there’s a frustration with Sandor trying to get through to Sansa that it’s not all fairytale and true knights and there’s so much badness in the world. But, by the end of the first season, obviously she’s seen… her father having his head cut off. So she’s maybe seen the light now, but I think there’s still a frustration of trying to [get her to] see the reality of the whole situation. It’s giving advice to Sansa for survival, basically.

Access: How long does it takes to put on the hair and makeup? Hours?

Rory: Always. Every single time I’m given the sheets of the pickup times for the next day, it’s a running joke, I always go back to the office and go, ‘There must be some mistake’ (laughs). I’m at least a couple hours before everyone else. When it first started, it was three-and-a-half-hours, but we’ve cut that in half now. It’s all one piece now instead of separate pieces.

Access: It’s so intricate.

Rory: And the heat is unreal because I’ve got prosthetic all around my eyebrow and all [up] the side of my face and after a couple of hours, even if I’m not active, the whole thing starts to build up a sweat… until it starts to leak — usually from my eyebrow. Usually [we] have to burst it and reset it. It’s quite uncomfortable.

Access: And itchy too?

Rory: Very itchy! But, you know, it makes me angry and I just use it. Any time I see any other actors complaining about anything, I usually shout at them and go ‘Use it!’

Access: You were involved in one of the most memorable fight scenes last season – Sandor vs. his brother Gregor after a joust. Will you get to wield the sword a little bit more in Season 2?

Rory: Yeah. Twice as much. I’m in another joust with a gold helmet on. It’s quite hard to see who you’re trying to kill wearing that dog’s helmet, I can assure you.

Access: Now you’re a practical joker — is that right?

Rory: Uh, (pauses) yes. It’s one of my pleasures in life. I must admit. Nice practical jokes though.

Access: I read you played a joke on Oliver Stone [your director in 2004’s ‘Alexander’]…

Rory: What’s reported that I did to Oliver Stone?

Access: Something to do with a snake.

Rory: Oh, a snake under the hat, yes… It was a fake snake. I’ve done quite a lot of swashbuckling kind of films where all the actors ‘round me have their swords out… and my favorite [thing to do] is to tie all their swords up with fishing line, so when they take out the swords, it’s all over the place. It’s funny the first time…

Access: Is there anyone you play practical jokes on, on the ‘GOT’ set? Are the kids and younger actors cool with that kind of stuff?

Rory: They’re all cool with it. I get on great with all the kids. Was I doing any practical jokes? I wasn’t really, I don’t think… Because [of] the way I look — and I do know the way I look — I surprise people sometimes. So when I come ‘round a corner and they don’t notice… I give people a scare, just being my size and stuff. But I’ll go up to people behind and bark like a dog, and nip the back of their leg and watch them jump.

Access: What a hoot. Do you do that to Dan and David, because I imagine they could probably use it every once in a while?

Rory: Yeah, I know. They work so hard. It’s things like during the night shoots, you’ve gotta try and keep your spirits up. The night shoots this season — the weather was brutal and so anything to cheer up anyone. But it’s was usually just telling stories… I have a guitar on set, as well. I play little ditties and stuff. There’s usually someone else with a guitar as well. There’s usually a jam going on.

Access: Are there particular pop classics you guys like to break out?

Rory: I tell you what, the kids love that classic ‘Glee’ song. You know, the ‘Glee’ song. The one that goes (starts singing) ‘just do it, I’m just a na-na-na…’ You know that one?

Access: I’m not sure I do. They do so many.

Rory: Honestly, I’ve never watched it and that’s another thing, I don’t watch really watch telly. I haven’t managed to watch all of the first season [of ‘GOT’]… David and Dan invited me to sit in a screening room and watch all the episodes, which sounded good, but 10 hours by yourself watching ‘Game of Thrones’? I don’t think I could do that… I live out in the wild, so I think I’ll just have to wait for the box set myself.

Access: Does the isolation of where you live mean you don’t get ‘GOT’ fan reactions others in major cities probably do?

Rory: I wouldn’t say I’m that social… I’m either sailing my boat by myself or living in some small place. I’m just about to move to a place that you can only get there by rowing a boat across a loch, which I’m thoroughly looking forward to it. It’s not got electricity or anything.

Access: Have you had a chance to sort of enjoy the glory of a fan reaction to this at all, because people really love the show, myself included.

Rory: I’m getting that this thing is massive and the fan base is massive and they’re loving – I think they’re loving the show. Occasionally, I’ve dipped into the show website and then the other fan things and then it gets all too much and I switch the computer off.

Access: So nobody’s been able to come up to you yet, that you don’t know and say, ‘Rory! I love you as The Hound!’?

Rory: Not that much to be honest. To be honest, I was in a bookshop yesterday…

Access: Did you get a ‘Book Group’ recognition?

Rory: I sometimes get that, but I was in a book shop the other day and I was looking particularly Hound-like and a guy turned around that was in front of me in the queue — I was waiting for a coffee — and he just looked at me with a face of fear and went, ‘My good lord’ (laughs). And I just got the impression that he was seeing The Hound, rather than any of the other characters that I’ve played.

Access: That’s kind of cool. Probably has to be a little bit of fun…

Rory: The thing that I just discovered, which fascinates me really – my name, McCann, the translation isn’t ‘Son of Ann.’ … It comes from ‘Canis’ – as in ‘canine’ – as in ‘dog’! My name — Rory McCann — means Rory Hound, Rory Wolfhound. Can you believe that?

Access: Are you being serious?

Rory: I’m totally serious… as in ‘canine.’ It comes from that word. It doesn’t come from ‘Son of Ann,’ so that’s intriguing.

SOURCE: Daily Record
AUTHOR: Steve Hendry
DATE: 11 January 2009
ORIGINAL: Click here
ARCHIVE: Click here

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MOVIE star Rory McCann has played gangsters, warriors and demon slayers.

But he has played it for laughs on every one of his films – by stocking up on pranks.

Even Hollywood film-maker Oliver Stone has fallen victim to one of his practical jokes, after Rory put snakes under his hat.

The 6ft 7in lumberjack-turned-actor crossed swords with the movie mogul for epic Alexander.

The prolific prankster said: “Every time I go on a job I spend £100 at Tam Shepherd’s joke shop in Glasgow, although Oliver Stone didn’t like the snakes.

“Tying people’s swords together with fishing line before a take is a favourite and I superglued an actor’s flip flops together as he slept on a plane. The trick is not to get caught.”

The jokes served him well while filming the sex scenes in his latest movie, Brit gangster flick The Crew.

Rory, 39, said: “I do awful things in a brothel. It’s shocking.

“I relieved the stress by hiding a remote control fart machine on set. If it got tense I pressed the button.”

Rory needs a sense of humour to pursue his dream. Since he gave up painting the Forth Bridge after getting his big break as the Scott’s Porage Oats man 10 years ago he has amassed a string of credits.

He picked up a Scottish Bafta for his role as a wheelchair-bound ex-climber in Channel 4’s The Book Group. He was in Rockface, State of Play, Shameless and played Attila The Hun on TV. His films include Young Adam with Ewan McGregor and Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg.

But his most important job is his next one and he is back working as a lumberjack to pay the bills.

He said: “Workwise it’s been a horrendous couple of years. But this is my path. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Rory has streamlined his life to allow him to take what jobs come up.

He said: “Scotland is home now, it was Iceland last year. I have two caravans, a boat and a few dosses. I don’t want a base, I want the work.”

Rory has cause for optimism. One of his films awaiting release – comic adaptation Solomon Kane – could be part of a trilogy. In the meantime, he is delighted with The Crew.

He said: “It’s like Goodfellas or The Sopranos set in Liverpool.”

The Crew is out on DVD tomorrow.