June 4, 2025 • 9 mins
In this Reel Insights episode, Sean Tajipour, the Mayor of Nerdtropolis, chats with Rory McCann to talk all things Tornado, Star Wars: Ahsoka, Transformers: EarthSpark, and Knuckles.
Rory opens up about reuniting with director John Maclean for Tornado, a bold and quiet samurai-meets-Scotland period mash-up that stunned him with its originality. He shares why he didn’t even need a script to say yes, and what makes this unexpected film a must-watch.
The conversation turns galactic as Rory reflects on the enormous responsibility of taking over the role of Baylan Skoll in Star Wars: Ahsoka, a part originally played by the late Ray Stevenson. With powerful reverence and real excitement, Rory reveals what it’s like to be welcomed into one of the biggest universes in the world.
Plus, Rory nerds out about becoming Megatron in Transformers: EarthSpark, and shares how voicing the iconic villain was both wild and strangely relaxing. And we get a taste of what’s to come in Knuckles, the Sonic spinoff where Rory continues to cement his place as a genre franchise legend.
Get ready for a fun, heartfelt, and geek-worthy conversation full of surprises, laughs, and fandom love.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello, Rory. Hello, Sean.
It's a real pleasure to meet you.
Pleasure. To meet you.
I really enjoyed this movie, it was fantastic.
Tornado is a really, you know, eye opening film.
That and the film we don't really get these days.
Me and my wife, we're we're glued to it and really enjoyed
the world that we're immersed in.
And your character is part of this ruthless gang clearly over
(00:23):
their heads. What drew you to this project
and what were your first impressions of the films?
You cultural mashup. Yeah, Mashup were been offered a
part in a samurai stroke Scottish film set in 1790,
(00:45):
filming back in my own home country.
And yeah, that that sounded interesting.
And I've worked with this director before, John Mcclane,
and I would say the last time I worked with him, I probably had
one of the best times ever in in, you know, for one of these
jobs at such a good time. I didn't even need to read the
(01:09):
script. The answer was yes, I'll do it.
I will see you in Edinburgh or I'll see you on set.
So it was just go, go, go for me.
I would jump through a hoop for that man.
I love hearing that collaboration and work with
people that you enjoy working with is always the best times.
Yes, you mentioned 1790s, a period too.
We don't explore that often. What's it like stepping into
(01:32):
that type of world and did it affect how you approach the role
physically or even emotionally? Nah, not really.
I mean, to be honest, our costumes and stuff were kind of
contemporary, so it was just a kind of suggestion.
Yeah, I mean, I was one of the bad guys, one of the gang of
(01:53):
thugs tramping around the country with no signs of modern
buildings. Anyway, it could have been 1790.
And it's it's not hard to sink into.
Everyone's dressed appropriately.
And as long as you avoid lookingat the film crew look the other
(02:14):
way, you're in that world. No, it was all good fun.
Yeah, it, it's a world I really enjoyed.
Y'all did a great job bringing this to life.
It's it's a really fun film. And you mentioned playing a
tough guy. You played some truly legendary
tough guys over the years. What is it about these roles
that keep drawing you in? Probably my probably just
(02:36):
because I'm big, you know, and they know I've done it before.
I'm usually some big grumpy guy on set anyway because I haven't
had my breakfast or I'm hungoverthe night before.
No, that's not true. Yeah, I just, I I can stick that
for because I can do it. Yeah, no problem.
(03:00):
But but the big guys are usuallythe softies, right?
Us big guys are softies in real life.
We just like playing the role, yeah.
Yeah, OK. But yeah, sort of.
Yes, you're right. I am a big softie, although I
didn't complain about the cold as much as the other as much as
the other people around us. That's yeah, fine.
(03:22):
All part of the service. What do you think is going to
surprise people about this film?Like I said, it's a it's an
awesome mash up. I love the samurai aspect of it,
but what do you think? It's truly going to surprise
fans when they watch this movie.I don't think you're going to
get blasted with a whole whole load of dialogue and stuff.
I seem to remember. I seem to remember no one speaks
for the 1st 20 minutes and you know you're not wanting it.
(03:46):
Really there's no need and there's a bit of less of more
going on there. John holds back.
There was more dialogue thinkingabout it.
And as we went on, we were going.
We don't even need to say that. You can say that with a look and
he's very visual. He's he's an ex art, art college
(04:11):
student stuff and he's you should see the way he works.
He's got these. He's not a very good artist,
thinking about it. He draws these matchstick men
and very crude scenes, but he's got it all in his head and they
just do what he says. Yeah, what surprised me, I
(04:33):
really thought it was brilliant,is like you're talking about
there's no really dialogue in this film, very limited and
everything else speaks for itself.
And also when when there is violence, it's violent.
I will tell you that. We're kind of taken back by some
of the violence. There is awesome, actually, some
some great scenes in there. Roy, I got a nerd out with you
as the mayor of Nerdtropolis. I got to ask, you know, you're
(04:54):
stepping into a huge, huge role,a huge universe called Star
Wars. Would that be a Star Wars?
Something's called Star Wars, a role originally played by the
late race Stevenson. What kind of responsibility do
you feel taking that on and, andjust being part of the Star Wars
universe? And you've been part of a lot of
amazing, you know, franchises aswell.
(05:14):
Yeah, to get asked, and this is incredible.
I mean, I, I remember being a little kid, maybe 6 or 7 was my
dad's waiting to go into the cinema in Glasgow watching the
first Star Wars film and to be asked.
Unfortunate dem circumstances though, and was really what an
(05:36):
incredible actor he was. And my God, they're big shoes to
fill. But we had big conversations
with it, and they all felt that his character's story should
carry on instead of just being cut.
And I've taken it on or doing mybest.
(05:59):
So I'm growing my beard and I won't feel the cheek on my
pillow till it gets frosty. But it's, yeah, it's pretty
scary. It's exciting.
I am pinching myself. We've started filming a bit and
I, I actually can't believe I'm part of it.
(06:21):
It's incredible. And they're so, they've been so,
so good to me. It's so everyone's so welcoming.
Yeah, it's, it's going to be great.
Yeah, we're super excited to seeyou in this universe.
And you, like I said, you've been part of so many universes
that I love. And you're also a voice actor,
which is different than live action.
And so I wanted to ask you what surprised you the most about
(06:42):
bringing the legendary Megatron to life using just your voice in
Transformers Earth Spark? I know.
I can't believe that either. Yeah, that's really good.
It's great fun. My God.
Yeah, I am Megatron. Yeah, I go, I'm going to the
studio and I keep on saying I amMegatron.
(07:04):
I am Megatron. Yeah, it's great.
Great to be part of that. Hopefully that will carry on as
well. Yeah, it's my career sort of
expanding in different directions.
Voice overs are quite good fun and they're quickly done.
You can get home at the end of the day, you know.
Yeah, I mean, you've done some great stuff.
I got to mention all of them. I mean, there's also Knuckles.
(07:25):
I love sharing Knuckles. As the.
As the buyer, I mean, between Knuckles, Transformers, you got
Soca coming out, of course, Gameof Thrones, you've really become
the king of genre franchises. So I got to ask, like, what
keeps drawing you to this large enough life stories?
And do you ever just sit back and think, man, I have one heck
of a nerdy resume and I love it.Yeah.
(07:45):
No, no, I'm thinking of it. I don't know.
I just let, I let it come to me.I mean, what's for you won't go
by you. And I do say no to quite a lot
of things. But to be honest, it hasn't
been, it's been quite quiet, youknow, the last few years, the
COVID rubbish and the 100 day strike and Oh my God.
(08:10):
So yeah, it's great to have the ball rolling again.
Yeah, I mean, all all these roles have been really fun.
You're fantastic in this. I want to see more of like kind
of I like these period pieces. We don't get many of them and
then, you know, the mash up withthe samurai and not much
dialogue and tornado. I mean, this is really a
brilliant film and I'm glad you kind of got to collaborate again
(08:31):
with one of your favorite directors And, and then from now
on, I mean, I. Love the music.
I love the music with it. I mean, he's a, he's a musician.
The whole thing put together wasbrilliant.
It was something that totally surprised me.
I didn't watch any trailers. I'd look at anything when it
blind and we really enjoy it. We're very glued the whole time.
Couldn't look away. Our phones were down watching
it. So that's always a good sign
(08:51):
when you're watching things at home that you're glued to the
screen, and Tornado is one of those films that people are
really going to enjoy. It's a little surprise, isn't
it? And I would recommend not to try
not even look at a trailer or a synopsis or anything and just
open yourself and take it in. It's yeah, it was a really, I
(09:14):
was expecting it to be great, but I remember I've seen it once
coming out going, wow. I really liked that.
I knew I was going to like it, but I didn't think I was going
to like it that much. Oh my God, that's fantastic.
And I remember saying to John going, hey, just don't send me
the strict next time. Just if you've got apart from
me, the answer is yes for whatever you do, I don't care.
(09:36):
And that's that. No, I love hearing that.
Yeah. Sign, sign you up for the next
one, Rory. An extreme pleasure.
We definitely got to do it again.
But thank you so much for all that amazing entertainment.
Pleasure all parts of the service.
Hello, Rory. Hello, Sean.
It's a real pleasure to meet you.
Pleasure. To meet you.
I really enjoyed this movie, it was fantastic.
Tornado is a really, you know, eye opening film.
That and the film we don't really get these days.
Me and my wife, we're we're glued to it and really enjoyed
the world that we're immersed in.
And your character is part of this ruthless gang clearly over
(00:23):
their heads. What drew you to this project
and what were your first impressions of the films?
You cultural mashup. Yeah, Mashup were been offered a
part in a samurai stroke Scottish film set in 1790,
(00:45):
filming back in my own home country.
And yeah, that that sounded interesting.
And I've worked with this director before, John Mcclane,
and I would say the last time I worked with him, I probably had
one of the best times ever in in, you know, for one of these
jobs at such a good time. I didn't even need to read the
(01:09):
script. The answer was yes, I'll do it.
I will see you in Edinburgh or I'll see you on set.
So it was just go, go, go for me.
I would jump through a hoop for that man.
I love hearing that collaboration and work with
people that you enjoy working with is always the best times.
Yes, you mentioned 1790s, a period too.
We don't explore that often. What's it like stepping into
(01:32):
that type of world and did it affect how you approach the role
physically or even emotionally? Nah, not really.
I mean, to be honest, our costumes and stuff were kind of
contemporary, so it was just a kind of suggestion.
Yeah, I mean, I was one of the bad guys, one of the gang of
(01:53):
thugs tramping around the country with no signs of modern
buildings. Anyway, it could have been 1790.
And it's it's not hard to sink into.
Everyone's dressed appropriately.
And as long as you avoid lookingat the film crew look the other
(02:14):
way, you're in that world. No, it was all good fun.
Yeah, it, it's a world I really enjoyed.
Y'all did a great job bringing this to life.
It's it's a really fun film. And you mentioned playing a
tough guy. You played some truly legendary
tough guys over the years. What is it about these roles
that keep drawing you in? Probably my probably just
(02:36):
because I'm big, you know, and they know I've done it before.
I'm usually some big grumpy guy on set anyway because I haven't
had my breakfast or I'm hungoverthe night before.
No, that's not true. Yeah, I just, I I can stick that
for because I can do it. Yeah, no problem.
(03:00):
But but the big guys are usuallythe softies, right?
Us big guys are softies in real life.
We just like playing the role, yeah.
Yeah, OK. But yeah, sort of.
Yes, you're right. I am a big softie, although I
didn't complain about the cold as much as the other as much as
the other people around us. That's yeah, fine.
(03:22):
All part of the service. What do you think is going to
surprise people about this film?Like I said, it's a it's an
awesome mash up. I love the samurai aspect of it,
but what do you think? It's truly going to surprise
fans when they watch this movie.I don't think you're going to
get blasted with a whole whole load of dialogue and stuff.
I seem to remember. I seem to remember no one speaks
for the 1st 20 minutes and you know you're not wanting it.
(03:46):
Really there's no need and there's a bit of less of more
going on there. John holds back.
There was more dialogue thinkingabout it.
And as we went on, we were going.
We don't even need to say that. You can say that with a look and
he's very visual. He's he's an ex art, art college
(04:11):
student stuff and he's you should see the way he works.
He's got these. He's not a very good artist,
thinking about it. He draws these matchstick men
and very crude scenes, but he's got it all in his head and they
just do what he says. Yeah, what surprised me, I
(04:33):
really thought it was brilliant,is like you're talking about
there's no really dialogue in this film, very limited and
everything else speaks for itself.
And also when when there is violence, it's violent.
I will tell you that. We're kind of taken back by some
of the violence. There is awesome, actually, some
some great scenes in there. Roy, I got a nerd out with you
as the mayor of Nerdtropolis. I got to ask, you know, you're
(04:54):
stepping into a huge, huge role,a huge universe called Star
Wars. Would that be a Star Wars?
Something's called Star Wars, a role originally played by the
late race Stevenson. What kind of responsibility do
you feel taking that on and, andjust being part of the Star Wars
universe? And you've been part of a lot of
amazing, you know, franchises aswell.
(05:14):
Yeah, to get asked, and this is incredible.
I mean, I, I remember being a little kid, maybe 6 or 7 was my
dad's waiting to go into the cinema in Glasgow watching the
first Star Wars film and to be asked.
Unfortunate dem circumstances though, and was really what an
(05:36):
incredible actor he was. And my God, they're big shoes to
fill. But we had big conversations
with it, and they all felt that his character's story should
carry on instead of just being cut.
And I've taken it on or doing mybest.
(05:59):
So I'm growing my beard and I won't feel the cheek on my
pillow till it gets frosty. But it's, yeah, it's pretty
scary. It's exciting.
I am pinching myself. We've started filming a bit and
I, I actually can't believe I'm part of it.
(06:21):
It's incredible. And they're so, they've been so,
so good to me. It's so everyone's so welcoming.
Yeah, it's, it's going to be great.
Yeah, we're super excited to seeyou in this universe.
And you, like I said, you've been part of so many universes
that I love. And you're also a voice actor,
which is different than live action.
And so I wanted to ask you what surprised you the most about
(06:42):
bringing the legendary Megatron to life using just your voice in
Transformers Earth Spark? I know.
I can't believe that either. Yeah, that's really good.
It's great fun. My God.
Yeah, I am Megatron. Yeah, I go, I'm going to the
studio and I keep on saying I amMegatron.
(07:04):
I am Megatron. Yeah, it's great.
Great to be part of that. Hopefully that will carry on as
well. Yeah, it's my career sort of
expanding in different directions.
Voice overs are quite good fun and they're quickly done.
You can get home at the end of the day, you know.
Yeah, I mean, you've done some great stuff.
I got to mention all of them. I mean, there's also Knuckles.
(07:25):
I love sharing Knuckles. As the.
As the buyer, I mean, between Knuckles, Transformers, you got
Soca coming out, of course, Gameof Thrones, you've really become
the king of genre franchises. So I got to ask, like, what
keeps drawing you to this large enough life stories?
And do you ever just sit back and think, man, I have one heck
of a nerdy resume and I love it.Yeah.
(07:45):
No, no, I'm thinking of it. I don't know.
I just let, I let it come to me.I mean, what's for you won't go
by you. And I do say no to quite a lot
of things. But to be honest, it hasn't
been, it's been quite quiet, youknow, the last few years, the
COVID rubbish and the 100 day strike and Oh my God.
(08:10):
So yeah, it's great to have the ball rolling again.
Yeah, I mean, all all these roles have been really fun.
You're fantastic in this. I want to see more of like kind
of I like these period pieces. We don't get many of them and
then, you know, the mash up withthe samurai and not much
dialogue and tornado. I mean, this is really a
brilliant film and I'm glad you kind of got to collaborate again
(08:31):
with one of your favorite directors And, and then from now
on, I mean, I. Love the music.
I love the music with it. I mean, he's a, he's a musician.
The whole thing put together wasbrilliant.
It was something that totally surprised me.
I didn't watch any trailers. I'd look at anything when it
blind and we really enjoy it. We're very glued the whole time.
Couldn't look away. Our phones were down watching
it. So that's always a good sign
(08:51):
when you're watching things at home that you're glued to the
screen, and Tornado is one of those films that people are
really going to enjoy. It's a little surprise, isn't
it? And I would recommend not to try
not even look at a trailer or a synopsis or anything and just
open yourself and take it in. It's yeah, it was a really, I
(09:14):
was expecting it to be great, but I remember I've seen it once
coming out going, wow. I really liked that.
I knew I was going to like it, but I didn't think I was going
to like it that much. Oh my God, that's fantastic.
And I remember saying to John going, hey, just don't send me
the strict next time. Just if you've got apart from
me, the answer is yes for whatever you do, I don't care.
(09:36):
And that's that. No, I love hearing that.
Yeah. Sign, sign you up for the next
one, Rory. An extreme pleasure.
We definitely got to do it again.
But thank you so much for all that amazing entertainment.
Pleasure all parts of the service.
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