“Stop lookin’ back, dude! Give them what they want to hear.” 🎤 🏴 Magenta Light Studios has revealed one final official US trailer for the movie California Schemin’, the directorial debut of Scottish actor James McAvoy. McAvoy directs, exec produces and also co-stars in the film, which premiered at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival last year. It already opened in the UK back in April and we posted two trailers for that release. Now it hits the US in October and they’re beginning to hype it up. An irresistible, feel-good underdog tale about two Scottish men pretending to be Americans to achieve their dreams of hip-hop stardom. It’s based on an actual real story that’s stranger than fiction. Inspired by outrageous real events, California Schemin’ follows two aspiring Scottish MCs who devise an audacious scheme to achieve their big dream of a record deal, by posing as Californian hip hop artists (under the name “Silibil N’ Brains”). As fame beckons and the lies pile up, their friendship is put to the test. Starring Samuel Bottomley & Séamus McLean Ross as the duo, with Lucy Halliday, Rebekah Murrell, & James McAvoy. Seems like it’s about some wild and crazy good times. A cautionary tale, for sure, but also an entertaining story about young Scottish dreamers.
Here’s the final official US trailer (+ poster) for James McAvoy’s film California Schemin’, on YouTube:
“I’ve wanted to direct since I was 16. After 30 years of working with and learning from some of the best in the business, that desire has only grown. All this gave me the opportunity to do two things I cared about as a first-time director:
1. Tell a story about people from a background like mine: lower-income, council estate kids, with talent, hopes, dreams – and a desire to transcend their limited horizons.
2. Entertain.
California Schemin’ is about two people who don’t just break through a glass ceiling, they completely ignore it and find a way around. That might sound like a straightforward success story, but if it were, I wouldn’t be telling it.
We celebrate those who dare to dream in the face of failure, who kick down closed doors with unapologetic, gallus self-belief.
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?” –James McAvoy
You can watch the teaser trailer for James McAvoy’s California Schemin’ film right here for more footage.
Via TIFF: “Inspired by the real-life saga of Scottish rap duo Silibil N’ Brains, a.k.a. Gavin Bain (Séamus McLean Ross) and Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley), the film follows the unexpected journey of two lifelong friends from Dundee who dream of hip-hop superstardom. There’s just one problem: nobody takes two white guys with thick regional accents seriously in the UK’s early 2000s rap scene, especially not the London gatekeepers who laugh them out of an audition. Back home and humiliated, the pair hatch a plan so absurd it just might work: they’ll reinvent themselves as hard-partying MCs from Southern California complete with fake backstories & convincing-enough American accents. Against all odds — and with sharp commentary on image, identity, the music industry’s obsession with authenticity — they take off, conning even one of the industry’s top producers (McAvoy). But keeping up the lie without losing sight of what’s real becomes harder as stakes rise, and as cracks beneath the bravado & between friends begin to widen.“
California Schemin’ is directed by Scottish actor / filmmaker James McAvoy, directing his first ever film after producing the film Filth previously. The screenplay is written by Archie Thomson and Elaine Gracie; based on the story of Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd. Produced by Danny Page, Paul Aniello, Simon Kay, Michael Mendelsohn. This initially premiered at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival. The film opened in the UK back in April. Magenta Light debuts California Schemin’ in US theaters starting on October 9th, 2026 in the fall.
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