James McAvoy has made his directorial debut with the music biopic California Schemin’, which hit UK cinemas on April 10. The film recounts the true story of Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain, who posed as Americans under the name Silibil N’ Brains to succeed in the music industry. It stars Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McLean Ross in the lead roles.
California Schemin’ follows Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain, real-life Scottish friends who adopted American accents and identities as the rap duo Silibil N’ Brains. They gained attention from London executives, appeared on MTV, and toured with Eminem, but the deception strained their friendship. The story draws from the 2010 memoir California Schemin’: How Two Lads From Scotland Conned The Music Industry. McAvoy appears in a supporting role, alongside James Corden as a music executive, Lucy Halliday, Rebekah Murrell, and Jennifer Win. Samuel Bottomley plays Boyd, while Séamus McLean Ross portrays Bain. Bottomley and Ross perform several tracks, including ‘Natural Born Spitters’ and ‘Lost Soul’ by Ross. The soundtrack features Silibil N’ Brains songs like ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels/Black Widow’, ‘Tongue Kung Fu’, ‘Superhero’, and ‘Medicine’, plus classics such as The Pharcyde’s ‘Runnin’’, Souls Of Mischief’s ’93 Til Infinity’, Avril Lavigne’s ‘Sk8er Boi’, and Shirley Bassey’s ‘Jezahel (Brains Mcloud Remix)’. Benjamin Stefanski, known as Raffertie, composed the original score; his past work includes The Substance and The Continental: From The World Of John Wick. An exclusive clip from NME shows the duo deciding to fake American accents and remixing their music. Critics have praised the film, giving it a 97 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and calling it a euphoric rags-to-riches-to-rags comedy, with acclaim for McAvoy’s energetic direction.