James McAvoy's California Schemin Hits UK Cinemas

James McAvoy's directorial debut, California Schemin, arrived in UK and Irish cinemas on April 10, 2026, following acclaimed premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025 and as the closing gala of the Glasgow Film Festival in March. The film recounts the audacious true story of Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain, who in the early 2000s posed as a Californian hip-hop duo, Silibil N Brains, to secure a record deal and break into the music industry.

Written by Elaine Gracie and Archie Thomson, the movie draws from Bain's 2010 memoir, California Schemin: How Two Lads from Scotland Conned the Music Industry. It stars Samuel Bottomley as Boyd and Séamus McLean Ross as Bain, with McAvoy and James Corden in supporting roles as record label executives. The narrative follows the duo's origins in Dundee, where frustration with industry gatekeepers who dismissed their Scottish accents led them to fabricate American identities from the small California towns of Hemet and San Jacinto. Their deception escalated from a casual phone call with a gig booker to signing with Sony, touring with acts like D12, and appearing on MTV's The Hook, all while maintaining...