In Pictures: James McAvoy directorial debut filmed in Glasgow has world premiere

A film about two rappers from Dundee who convinced the music industry they were California’s next big thing has had its first screening. James McAvoy’s feature directorial debut, California Schemin’, received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival at the weekend, introducing audiences to the true story of Silibil N’ Brains and giving Glasgow a starring role along the way.

Based on Gavin Bain’s memoir - later reissued as Straight Outta Scotland - the film dramatises how Bain and his friend Billy Boyd rebranded themselves as brash Americans to gatecrash the music industry landing a record deal, TV slots and a flirtation with fame before their audacious invention unraveled. McAvoy, established as a leading man in Hollywood through films including The Last King of Scotland and the X-Men series, steps behind the camera for the first time, with Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McLean Ross leading the cast as the rappers.

McAvoy chose to return home to Scotland to shoot the movie, beginning the shoot in late October 2024, with production anchored in Dundee and Glasgow. In Glasgow, cameras rolled across a sweep of neighbourhoods and landmarks that feature in the movie, including the Barrowland Ballroom and The Barras, city centre venue Stereo, Maryhill, Park Circus, Queen Street Station and Glasgow Green.

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter magazine before the screening, McAvoy said: “Considering I've never directed anything before. I just went went, “I’d like to be a director now” and I was in a lucky position where I got offered stuff to do, I didn't want to do much of the stuff that got sent my way. This is the very first thing that I get sent that I thought, wow, I could do the kind of things that I want to do.

“For my first film, I wanted it to be about Scottish people. I wanted it to be about people who come from lower income backgrounds with limited horizons and are wanting to entertain and have fun while doing it. Have the weight of what the real boys' story gives us as well, which is as much as it's a really fun adventure and it's really funny, they both pay the pretty high price so it ticked all the boxes and I was like, yep, I'm doing that one.”

McAvoy said that he knew a little about the real-life story behind the film but that his sister, Two Doors Down star Joy McAvoy, knew the rappers: “I knew about it a little bit. I wasn't massively up on it, but the documentary came out in 2013. My sister actually knew them. She was in a Scottish hip hop group called Streetside back at the time that the boys were just starting to come up in Scotland. Joy is also in the film as well.”

He said California Schemin’ was “the right piece of material for me.”

“I’ve always wanted to tell stories about people from working-class backgrounds who don’t have the opportunity that’s afforded to other people,” he said. “I’ve wanted to tell stories that are entertaining and aspirational. They’ve got humor, and they are movies, not just gritty black-and-white films. So when California Schemin‘ came my way, it was exactly that. It gave me the opportunity to tell those stories about people from backgrounds like mine, but also entertain and shock and surprise, while having so much aspirational hope in it, as well.”

Film critic Matthew Creith for movie business magazine The Wrap was complimentary in his review of the directorial debut, saying “James McAvoy has a future in directing if the “X-Men” star wants it, clearly defined by a story from his native Scotland that feels personal and entertaining. But the real MVP of “California Schemin’” is actor Séamus McLean Ross, who takes Gavin from an anxious young man with talent to a drug-infused rapper desperately in need of some rehabilitation. The chemistry between McLean Ross and Bottomley is electric, led by McLean Ross’s determination to make Gavin a fully realized character.

“Any premise that begins with a lie is destined to come crashing down at a given time. But McLean Ross and Bottomley’s energy and charisma on screen make “California Schemin’” and the true story behind the movie’s magic seem plausible. Director McAvoy is skilled at honing in on the details, never wavering in his ambition to tell a small tale about friendship, its pitfalls, and the lies that result in hurting others.”

Richard Lawson for The Guardian says: “While McAvoy stages some rousing concert sequences and ably conjures the rush of sudden success, he might have slowed the film down on occasion in order to capture more texture and detail.”

Rachel Labonte writes for Screen Rant: “It feels both nostalgic and charmingly down-to-earth, highlighting their humble origins to contrast with the privileged world they enter. In general, McAvoy seems to be drawing from his own upbringing in Scotland to shape the visual style of California Schemin', and it pays off, fully immersing the audience in the boys' world.”