It’s tough breaking into the world of hip-hop. It’s even tougher if you’re a Scottish lad trying to make it big on the U.K. rap scene. So why not get rich or try lyin’? That’s what a couple of real-life dudes did back in the early 2000s, pretending to be from America in order to be taken seriously as rappers. And it’s the subject of James McAvoy’s directorial debut, California Schemin’, which premiered at TIFF back in September.
StudioCanal has dropped the new trailer for California Schemin’, which stars Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McLean Ross as the Scottish rap duo Silibil N’ Brains. When being themselves failed to get them noticed, they took on the personas of American rappers from San Jacinto, CA. And it worked, as the duo ended up opening for Eminem and D12 among others. The film is based on the autobiography Straight Outta Scotland from group member Gavin Bain.
McAvoy directs from a script by Archie Thomson and Elaine Gracie. He also takes on a small role along with Samuel Bottomley and Lucy Halliday.
SYNOPSIS: Truth is stranger than fiction in actor James McAvoy’s directorial debut. Inspired by the real-life saga of Scottish rap duo Silibil N’ Brains, a.k.a. Gavin Bain (Séamus McLean Ross) and Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley), the film follows the unexpected journey of two lifelong friends from Dundee who dream of hip-hop superstardom. There’s just one problem: nobody takes two white guys with thick regional accents seriously in the UK’s early 2000s rap scene, especially not the London gatekeepers who laugh them out of an audition.
Back home and humiliated, the pair hatch a plan so absurd it just might work: they’ll reinvent themselves as hard-partying MCs from Southern California, complete with fake backstories and convincing enough American accents. Against all odds — and with sharp commentary on image, identity, and the music industry’s obsession with authenticity — they take off, conning even one of the industry’s top producers (McAvoy). But keeping up the lie without losing sight of what’s real becomes harder as the stakes rise, and as cracks beneath the bravado and between friends begin to widen.
California Schemin’ doesn’t have a U.S. date yet, but opens in UK cinemas in April.
