James McAvoy’s directorial debut, California Schemin’, premiered at TIFF last year, and it’s finally coming to theaters in October. The film is based on the wild true story of faux rap group Silibil N’ Brains, a pair of Scottish dudes who broke into the American hip-hop scene by pretending to be from San Jacinto, CA.
Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McLean Ross star as Billy “Silibil” Boyd and Gavin “Brains” Bain. McAvoy co-stars as record producer Anthony Reid, and as seen in the trailer, he totally buys into the con job, telling the duo “We would like to sign you. You’re the next D12, the next Eminem.”
Ironically, Silibil N’ Brains would end up opening for Eminem and D12. The film is based on Bain’s autobiography Straight Outta Scotland.
McAvoy directs from a script by Archie Thomson and Elaine Gracie.
“For me, the heart of the story is if their friendship and sanity could survive the journey: could they stay healthy and true to themselves while adopting personas the industry deemed acceptable, and forsaking the Scottish culture that made them”, McAvoy said in a statement.
California Schemin’ opens in theaters on October 9th from Magenta Light Studios, expanding nationwide a week later.
