“It’s One Of The Maddest Stories I’ve Ever Heard”: Séamus McLean Ross On California Schemin’

Two Scottish rappers conned the noughties music industry by masquerading as a Californian rap duo. Under debut director James McAvoy, the Scottish actor’s telling the stranger-than-fiction tale on the big screen.

Three words were all it took to capture Séamus McLean Ross’s attention when the self-tape request for California Schemin’ came his way. “I remember it so well: ‘McAvoy, Dundee, rapping,’” the Outlander: Blood of My Blood breakout explains. “I was like, ‘That’s the holy trinity.’” 

As a proud Glasgow lad (not to mention actor), the allure of bagging a role on the directorial debut of James McAvoy, one of his city’s chief 21st-century screen exports, is self-explanatory. Then there was Dundee. Known historically for jute, jam and journalism – the fourth-largest Scottish city is also home to Dundee United (the 25-year-old’s beloved side), and birthed his dad: Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue, the iconic chart-topping band he’s co-led alongside McLean Ross’s mum, Lorraine McIntosh, since 1985. While his parents found fame for poignant pop-rock, rich in narrative and Scottish soul, one could glean that Mclean Ross’s own musical proclivities lean in other directions. For California Schemin’s self-tape – “I learned a song: ‘New Choppa’ by Playboi Carti,” he tells Man About Town on the morning of the film’s release day. “And I [performed] A$AP Rocky’s verse. I went for it. I tried to shoot it like a rap video.” 

Illustrating a willingness to commit to the art of it all wholeheartedly was perhaps top of McAvoy’s list when recruiting for the musical drama. It does, after all, chart the improbable but very true story of two deft Dundonian rappers, Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley), who took doing just that to its outer limits in the early 2000s. After being rejected by the London music industry due to their Scottish accents, the pair re-emerged as fabricated Californian rap duo Silibil N’ Brains – with stateside pronunciation to boot – clinching a record deal with Sony Music UK, an MTV appearance and a support slot for D12. They lived with their adopted accents for over two years. “It’s one of the maddest stories I’ve ever heard,” McLean Ross says. “The more I think about it, the more interesting it gets.” 

Bain and Boyd planned to expose the industry’s exclusionary ways, revealing their true identities in a live TV appearance. However, the ecstasy of the fame they’d long sought would prove too potent to let go, and its associated pitfalls would be as deep as for any green act jettisoned into stardom – let alone one whose success was built on a lie. The tale of audacious youth, Y2K nostalgia and Scottish patriotism descends into darker territory than the film’s jocular poster might suggest, as a vulnerable Gavin experiences the sharp end, unravelling into substance abuse and declining mental health when everything falls apart. McLean Ross’s enveloping performance of that process in the film’s final third might just be its centrepiece. 

Sitting down with Man About Town, the actor talks meeting McAvoy for the first time, the influence of his creative parents, his hatred of the phrase “regional accents” and his love of both Glasgow’s clubbing and nature offerings. 

Congratulations on release day of California Schemin! You were in London for the premiere this week. How was that?

Yeah, I literally got home yesterday. What day is this? Friday? The premiere was on Wednesday night. It was awesome. It felt insane having our movie premiering in Leicester Square. Leading a film and doing all that, and the press and having your name on the poster is special. It’s like a dream-come-true. I know it’s pretty vain to say that, but I’m glad I’m not feeling awful about it. I feel like I deserve to be there. 

Going back to the start of the process, what was your first impression of Gavin? And how did you first connect with James? 

I was in London. I was living in a digs in Walthamstow, and I was doing a play. I’d booked Outlander. This was the end of 2023. So I was buzzing, and I wanted to smash the self-tape. And I got lucky enough to get a recall and met James for both parts – just me, and [casting director] Kahleen [Crawford]. I was fucking terrified. I was just sitting on the floor with fucking McAvoy. But you just have to turn the charm on and pretend you’re not fucking scared. But you are all the time as an actor. 

Then I got a recall with Sam. He was the last guy of the day. There were different Billy pairings, and eventually Sam came in, and James said we didn’t actually click immediately. We kind of cancelled each other out. And I think that’s maybe true. We’ve got such different energies, but I love the guy so much. I think he’s so talented, and he’s got things that I don’t think I could ever do. 

Was the rap a requirement of the self-tape? 

It actually was to be fair. It would be a cooler answer to say it wasn’t, but it was.

But you did it well and then… 

Well, we also had to write our own rap for the final recall. It gave a stimulus of, ‘It’s about Billy. It’s about trying to convince him to come on a night out,’ and then I scribbled something down, and it ended up being in the film. The scene when I’m on the bus, on the phone to Billy – that’s my words. James was like, ‘Do the rap you did in the audition,’ and it stayed in. 

You’ve proven yourself as a wordsmith! You and James went for a coffee in Glasgow to discuss the role. Did he say anything that inspired confidence in you that you could tackle it?  

I left that meeting feeling pretty daunted, actually. I began to spiral like, ‘He believes in me to do this film and play Gavin?’ He had all of this outline of Gavin, and he knew the script inside out. And he’s at such a different level that I felt a bit insufficient in my minerals. He was just so impressive to chat to. We talked about scripts, we talked about acting, and he was lovely. But I had prepped. I’d worked with an acting coach to go over the script for ages and to get me into Gavin’s head, and also Brains’s head. I feel like they’re two different characters. But the inspiration really happened when we were on set, when he knew we were feeling a bit nervous, because he knows what it feels like to be a young actor. And he would say things like, ‘I wanna see you. You’re enough,’ which was great. That’s what you wanna fucking hear, especially from him. And he’d give you a cuddle, and he’d be with you. It was up to me to get over myself and then do it. But it kind of worked for the character. Gavin was terrified, Gavin wasn’t comfortable in himself, and actually, I don’t think I was prior to shooting as well. 

Have you found that people, when they left the film, were surprised with the path it takes? I was familiar with the story, but I went in naively expecting more comedy throughout, and especially in your character’s case, it gets really dark. I was quite devastated for him afterwards. 

I think they have had reactions of surprise at the depths that it went to. I think [Gavin and Billy’s experiences] did take a massive toll on [their] mental health. Gavin lived in this American accent for like two years. It’s insane. It is this light idea, but it changes, and that’s down to Gavin and how intensely he believes in it and how fragile he is from the off. 

I didn’t realise until I was researching the other day who your mum and dad were. That must have been such a cool, creative environment to grow up in. Do you feel like they influenced your perspective as an actor? 

Absolutely. I love my parents and their love of art and how much they’ve taught me about the world. And also, my mum’s theatre shows were huge inspirations for me. Going to see her plays was just pure magic. It just made me fall in love with theatre, and I still do [fall in love with it]. I was at the Citizens [Theatre] the other day. I went by myself, and I’m so happy doing that.

We talk about all things and the priorities of why we do what we do. Not a lot of people know that they’re really quite religious. You can get caught up in these things, ideas of fame and how important you are, but just trying to remain grounded and be a good person and do it for love and good things and joy, that’s really helped me to remain grounded, when sometimes it can feel a bit vacuous. 

When you’re not working, what does life in Glasgow look like for you? 

It’s great. I just moved to the West End last year. I was in England, and there’s honestly nothing better than the feeling of coming home from London. Every time I get off the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, I’m glad to be home. I know Glasgow’s not heaven, but to me it still is. It feels like the centre of the universe. But day-to-day life is just trying to stay busy. I feel like I’m much more aligned when I’m working. When I’m doing home life, I can waste a lot of hours doing things I shouldn’t be doing, like doom-scrolling and playing FIFA. I really do live for work, which I’m trying to navigate. So just seeing pals and having a laugh, going to the gym, enjoying the many food spots around here, going for coffees. I love the outdoors as well. The good thing about Glasgow is that Loch Lomond is a 45-minute drive, less than that, from the West End. Also, there’s great clubs. The Berkeley Suite is bangin’. 

The film is centred on the way Scottish identity has been overlooked in the arts in London. As a Scottish actor navigating the industry now, what has your experience been like? 

All my TV jobs have been in Scotland, luckily enough, which is a good sign. But I’ve always played Scottish people. I went to drama school in London, where the modus operandi was to speak in RP [Received Pronunciation] still. And I did have an amazing teacher, Patsy Rodenburg, she was amazing for me, but she did say, ‘You need to do it in RP. You need to do this monologue in RP, or whatever fucking Shakespeare bollocks we were doing. I love Shakespeare, I’m not dissing Shakespeare here [laughs]. 

But I think it is a more national thing; it’s not just about Scotland, it’s also about other voices. I fucking hate this [term] ‘regional accents’. That’s just not from London. I was on a Zoom call the other day, and this Oxbridge girl was like, ‘Oh, you’ve got such a thick accent’, and I was like, ‘Would you say that to anyone else?’ I know, of course, I’ve got an accent. We’ve all got an accent. ‘So do you,’ I felt like saying. It still kind of irks me. But I think the more general pressing question is: Why are we pandering for their approval? We have to believe in Scotland for ourselves, and create a country where we believe in our culture and our stories and our voices. I hope a film like this can do that. 

Totally, and good on people like James who have used international stardom to come back to Scotland to tell these stories! 

Honestly. It kind of feels like philanthropy. It’s amazing to do that. Look at the vibe he’s created up here. It felt like such a positive vibe for Scotland on that premiere night, and that’s all down to him.

California Schemin’ is in UK and Irish cinemas now