(Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images)
According to Deadline, X-Men alum James McAvoy has officially enlisted BAFTA nominee Samuel Bottomley (How to Have Sex) and Séamus McLean Ross (Outlander: Blood of My Blood) to portray the leading roles in his upcoming feature directorial debut, California Schemin’.
The project will center around the life of rap duo Silibil N’ Brains, Scottish artists who pretended to be Americans in order to secure a record deal. Bottomley is expected to play Billy Boyd while McLean Ross will take on Gavin Bain. In addition to directing, McAvoy will also joined the cast as a supporting character.
“I’m proud to make my directorial debut with a very Scottish meets Hollywood story, using Scottish talent both in front of and behind the camera,” McAvoy said in a statement. “California Schemin’ is a true story about friendship, rap and glorious failure that beggars belief and gives us the opportunity to do all of this. Archie Thomson’s rich adaptation of this remarkable story captivated me and will appeal to audiences worldwide, and Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McClean Ross are a very special couple of young actors who possess all of these attributes and more. I feel privileged to be telling this story with them on my debut feature.”
Who’s involved in California Schemin’?
California Schemin will be directed by McAvoy from a screenplay written by Archie Thomson, based on Bain’s 2010 memoir of the same name. Prior to the upcoming film, the memoir also became the subject of a documentary titled The Great Hip Hop Hoax. It is produced by Guy J. Louthan and Danny Page, with Stephen Kelliher and Sophie Green executive producing.
“In the late 90’s, 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,” reads the synopsis. “The 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.”
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