California Schemin'

California Schemin'

California Schemin' (stylized as California $chemin') is a 2025 musical biographical film directed by James McAvoy in his directorial debut. The film stars Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McLean Ross as Scottish faux-American rap pairing Silibil N' Brains, Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, and is based on Bain's 2010 memoir California Schemin': How Two Lads from Scotland Conned the Music Industry.

California Schemin premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2025. It is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom by StudioCanal on 10 April 2026.

Premise

California Schemin'

The film tells the true story of Silibil N' Brains, a rap duo from Dundee who, for three years, pretended to be American in order to be taken seriously by the record industry and ended up touring with Eminem.

Cast

California Schemin'

• 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

Production

California Schemin'

James McAvoy was reported to be directing a film about faux-Californian rap duo, Silibil N' Brains, otherwise known as Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd from Dundee in Scotland, in October 2023.

The film is produced by Danny Page of Homefront Productions and Michael Mendelsohn of Patriot Pictures. It is based on Bain's 2010 memoir California Schemin': How Two Lads from Scotland Conned the Music Industry (which was later re-printed as Straight Outta Scotland) and adapted by Elaine Gracie and Archie Thomson. Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McLean Ross were cast to play Boyd and Bain. McAvoy also has a small role in the film. It was funded by Screen Scotland.

Principal photography began on 29 October 2024. Filming locations include Dundee and Glasgow.

Release

California Schemin'

Bankside Films handled international pre-sales on the film in September 2024; among the buyers was StudioCanal, which bought the film for the U.K. and Ireland. California Schemin premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2025.

The film was screened at the 20th Rome Film Festival in October 2025. It also received a special screening at the Gasparilla International Film Festival on March 5, 2026, and was also screened at the Glasgow Film Festival on March 8, 2026.

The UK release is set for 10 April 2026. In March 2026, Magenta Light Studios acquired the U.S. distribution rights.

Reception

California Schemin'

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 22 critics' reviews are positive. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.