James McAvoy‘s feature directorial debut, California Schemin’, has been acquired by Bob Yari‘s Magenta Light Studios, with the company set to release the movie in theaters across the U.S. later this year.
The film, which premiered at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival, is set in the late ’90s and follows aspiring musicians Bain and Billy Boyd, whose musical ambitions were dismissed because of their Scottish accents. The pair reinvent themselves as California rappers, re-recording their tracks with American accents and fabricating a backstory that includes connections to Eminem. Though the pair land a record deal, sizable advances and an appearance on MTV, the risks grow as their profile rises and it becomes more and more challenging to sustain their fake identities.
The movie is based on Gavin Bain’s autobiography California Schemin‘ (later reissued as Straight Outta Scotland) and was previously adapted into the 2013 SXSW documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax.
McAvoy appears in the film alongside stars Séamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottomley and Lucy Halliday. Archie Thomson and Elaine Gracie adapted the screenplay, and Kahleen Crawford served as the casting director.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Magenta Light on the release of California Schemin’,” McAvoy said in a statement. “From the outset, they’ve understood the heart and spirit of the film, and it’s exciting to have a distributor so committed to bringing it to audiences in the right way.”
Yari added, “California Schemin’ is a wildly entertaining and well-crafted film that showcases James McAvoy’s remarkable talent as a director. We are thrilled to bring this unique and compelling story to audiences across the United States.”
Of California Schemin’, McAvoy previously told The Hollywood Reporter that “it was the right piece of material for me.”
“I’ve always wanted to tell stories about people from working-class backgrounds who don’t have the opportunity that’s afforded to other people,” he said. “I’ve wanted to tell stories that are entertaining and aspirational. They’ve got humor, and they are movies, not just gritty black-and-white films. So when California Schemin‘ came my way, it was exactly that. It gave me the opportunity to tell those stories about people from backgrounds like mine, but also entertain and shock and surprise, while having so much aspirational hope in it, as well.”
In a separate interview, prior to filming, he said he was “excited” to experience the “whole new world” of prep work as a director.
“It’s a whole new world for me to do this,” McAvoy told THR. “I’ve got experience with everything else after we start rehearsals. This whole period of prep, I’ve never been a part of it, so I’m excited.”
In his review of the film out of the 2025 Toronto Film Festival, THR‘s Michael Rechtshaffen praised McAvoy’s talent as a director and called the film, “a nimbly paced yarn that may not have set out to reinvent the wheel, but makes for a buoyant excursion nonetheless.”
California Schemin‘ is produced by Danny Page of Homefront Productions and Michael Mendelsohn of Patriot Pictures, alongside Paul Aniello and Simon Kay, and the project received funding from the National Lottery through Screen Scotland and Mendelsohn’s Union Patriot Capital affiliate. It’s presented in association with Zertex Media and Pont Neuf Productions and produced in association with Blazing Griffin and Tartan Bridge Films.
UTA Independent Film Group, which represents North American rights, negotiated the deal, with international sales handled by executive producers Bankside Films.
Magenta Light’s recent releases include Bride Hard, Strange Darling and Protector, with upcoming releases including Renny Harlin’s Deep Water, starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley, and Ed Kaplan’s Summerhouse starring Malcolm McDowell and Jacob Ward.
