Get Rich or Try Lying! Actor James McAvoy is getting behind the camera with the true-life rapper comedy “California Schemin’,” which focuses on a pair of Scottish con artists who pretended to be American rap artists as they attempted to be taken more seriously (play-acting as American artists) in the U.K. rap scene in the early 2000s. The pic has assembled a cast that features the likes of Samuel Bottomley, Séamus McLean Ross, Lucy Halliday, Rebekah Murrell, and McAvoy himself as well.
The fine folks over at StudioCanal have released a trailer for “California Schemin'” and should give audiences a good idea of what to expect from the period music industry comedy inspired by the true events of the Scottish rap duo Silibil N’ Brains, and is based on Gavin Bain‘s autobiographic novel “Straight Outta Scotland” as their schitck worked so well, the rap group would end up touring with Eminem.
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A synopsis for the upcoming feature film effort from McAvoy:
Truth is stranger than fiction in actor James McAvoy’s directorial debut. 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 and convincing enough American accents. Against all odds — and with sharp commentary on image, identity, and 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 the stakes rise, and as cracks beneath the bravado and between friends begin to widen.
The Playlist reviewed the film during our coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival and can be read right here. You can view the latest trailer for “California Schemin’ below, as McAvoy’s directorial debut heads to U.K. and Irish theaters on April 10.
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