James McAvoy's Directorial Debut CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN' About Con Artist Rappers Sets Cast and Heads to Cannes
BAFTA winner and Golden Globe-nominated actor James McAvoy (Atonement, The Last King of Scotland, Split) is making his directorial debut with the upcoming film California Schemin’ (working title). The movie is heading to the Cannes market with Bankside and UTA Independent Film Group.
McAvoy will take on a supporting role in the movie, which will be led by BAFTA-nominated How To Have Sex breakout Samuel Bottomley, and newcomer Séamus McLean Ross, who is currently filming on Outlander: Blood of My Blood.
The film will chart the true story of two Scottish lads from Dundee who conned the international music industry by adopting American accents and pretending to be established Californian rap duo, Silibil N’ Brains.
In the late ‘90s, Gavin Bain (McLean Ross) and Billy Boyd (Bottomley) had their musical ambitions consistently ridiculed for having the ‘wrong’ accents so they went for broke and reinvented themselves as Californian rappers.
McAvoy’s movie will show how the duo re-recorded their own tracks with fake accents and turned up in London claiming to be an established duo on the Cali scene as well as childhood friends with Eminem. They quickly bagged themselves a record deal, a hefty sum in advances, and an appearance on MTV…until it all came crashing down.
Currently in pre-production, the feature is based on Bain’s autobiography of the same name, which was later re-printed as Straight Outta Scotland. The story was later adapted into the 2013 SXSW documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax.
Archie Thomson (Deep State 2) adapted the screenplay, and Kahleen Crawford will be serving as casting director.
via: Deadline