California Schemin': Everything you need to know about James McAvoy's directorial debut, from reviews to release date
Directed James McAvoy, California Schemin’ will arrive in UK cinemas on Friday, April 10.
Telling the unbelievably true story of the Dundee rappers who conned the music industry, California Schemin’ is out in cinemas this week.
Marking the the directorial debut of Scottish star James McAvoy, the new film was inspired by the lives of aspiring musicians Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd; otherwise known as Silibil N’ Brains.
After meeting rejection after rejection for their Scottish accents, the pair ended up lying their way into a record deal, parties with stars such as Madonna and on tour with Eminem.
Following its UK premiere at Glasgow Film Festival, here is everything you need to know about California Schemin' as it is released in cinemas.
California Schemin' UK release date
California Schemin' will be in UK cinemas from Friday, April 10.
What is California Schemin' based on?
California Schemin' is inspired by the improbably true story of Silibil N’ Brains: AKA Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, an aspiring rap duo from Dundee.
The film is based on Bain’s autobiography of the same name, which was later reprinted as Straight Outta Scotland, as well as Jeanie Finlay’s 2013 documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax.
Having grown up in Scotland during the late 90s, the two friends had ambitions of breaking into the music industry, only to meet rejection for having the “wrong” type of accents.
In a 2008 interview with The Scotsman, Boyd said: “We started out performing in Scottish accents, but every time we contacted a label and said we were rappers from Dundee, we just got laughed at down the phone.”
Instead of accepting their fate, Bain and Boyd decided they would pretend to be from California to secure a record deal - a plot which quickly proved effective.
He continued: "Most people would just hang up, so once for a joke I pretended that we were from California and were in the UK for a few weeks, and all of a sudden people were interested in us.”
"We found it bizarre. Our songs were exactly the same, the only difference was that we sang them in American accents and suddenly we were successful."
The new film tells that story, and was shot on location in Scotland - including Glasgow’s iconic Barrowland Ballroom.
California Schemin' cast
Séamus McLean Ross, the son of Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, takes on the role of Billy "Silibil" Boyd with his partner in crime played by English actor Samuel Bottomley.
McAvoy also appears in the film, as well as directing it, with the full cast of California Schemin’ as follows:
- Samuel Bottomley as Billy "Silibil" Boyd
- Séamus McLean Ross as Gavin "Brains" Bain
- James McAvoy as Anthony Reid
- Lucy Halliday as Mary Boyd
- Rebekah Murrell as Tessa
- James Corden as a music executive
- Jennifer Winn as Hayley
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California Schemin' reviews: Is the film any good?
In short, yes. California Schemin' currently has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Scotsman’s reviewer Alistair Harkness awarded the film 4 stars. He wrote that McAvoy turns the true story into “a sly, funny and poignant exploration of friendship, identity and artistic integrity”.
Adding that the film certainly has its quite literal “crowd-pleasing moments”, Harkness highlighted Lucy Halliday’s performance as Mary in the film, concluding that California Schemin' is overall a “cautionary tale, done with real panache”.
You can read The Scotsman’s full review of California Schemin’, here.
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