X Men star James McAvoy has been spotted on the set of his new film California Schemin’ in Glasgow as he makes his directorial debut.

Glasgow born James, 45, tried to keep himself hidden under a black baseball hat as he shouted directions to actors Seamus McLean Ross and Bafta-nominated Samuel Bottomley who acted out a scene on the steps of a building in the East end of the city. 

The Scots action movie star was also spotted in Dundee recently working out some scenes for the film. 

California Schemin’ is a true life story about Silibil N’ Brains, the Scots born rap duo who pretended to be from the US and duped the music industry in their hopes to become global superstars. 

Dundee born Gavin Bain and Arbroath’s Billy Boyd managed to rub shoulders with Madonna and Eminem before their elaborate hoax came crashing down. 

X Men star James McAvoy has been spotted on the set of his new film California Schemin’ in Glasgow as he makes his directorial debut

California Schemin’ is a true life story about Silibil N’ Brains, the Scots born rap duo who pretended to be from the US and duped the music industry in their hopes to become global superstars

Glasgow born James, 45, tried to keep himself hidden under a black baseball hat as he shouted directions to actors Seamus McLean Ross and Bafta-nominated Samuel Bottomley (seen)

Bain is played by Seamus, who is the son of Deacon Blue music stars Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, and a graduate of London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

He’s already starred in Payback, alongside Peter Mullan as well as Rebus and also portrays Colum MacKenzie in Outlander spin-off Blood of My Blood. 

Yorkshire born Samuel who plays Boyd in the film first appeared in Paddy Considine’s film Tyrannosaur alongside Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman. 

He has also appeared in Ghost Stories with Martin Freeman and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. 

He received a Bafta nomination for his role as Aaron in Channel 4 drama Somewhere Boy. 

In an interview with ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, McAvoy said: ‘With California Schemin’ I’ll be telling a story about friendship, rap and glorious failure that has the potential to move, shock and entertain.’ 

The BBC documented the rise and fall of Silibil N’ Brains on its Storyville series in 2013. 

James was last involved in the film Speak No Evil which premiered in September 2024.

During promo for the film he revealed he ‘might never watch another film with the audience again’ after people ‘threw things at the screen.’

The Scots action movie star was also spotted in Dundee recently working out some scenes for the film

Dundee born Gavin Bain and Arbroath’s Billy Boyd managed to rub shoulders with Madonna and Eminem before their elaborate hoax came crashing down

In an interview with ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, McAvoy said: ‘With California Schemin’ I’ll be telling a story about friendship, rap and glorious failure that has the potential to move, shock and entertain’

The actor recalled seeing the horror for first time at ComicCon. 

James played the lead role of Paddy, a family man with a dark secret, in Watkins’ English language adaptation of the 2022 Danish film of the same name.

Speaking in an interview with Sky News, he explained: ‘I might never watch another film with the audience again because it was wicked. 

‘Every time I wanted them to laugh they laughed, every time I wanted them to get shocked and scared they were scared and then they surprised me with other stuff that happened.’

Read More James McAvoy reveals he ‘might never watch a film with an audience again’ because people ‘threw things at the screen’ after premiere of Speak No Evil

He continued: ‘People were throwing stuff at the screen at one point when my character was being particularly toxic, which was amazing, it was brilliant. 

‘One of the things that this film is about is compliance and how compliant we become as a society and that is potentially a big problem. 

‘We accept terrible behaviour not just from individuals like Paddy but also from society and governments and insтιтutions that run our lives.’

James admitted to drawing on a number of controversial influences while bringing the character to life, among them the misogynist influencer Andrew Tate. 

He told Empire: ‘The thing I thought I could exploit in the character was, he thinks he’s a bit of a… West Country Andrew Tate.

The BBC documented the rise and fall of Silibil N’ Brains on its Storyville series in 2013

‘He’s like, ‘I’m going to teach you what it’s like to be a man again.’ But there’s a sort of polite face on it that isn’t quite Andrew Tate, enough of a sheen of, ‘I’m not one of those guys.’ 

‘[Paddy’s] challenging you, ‘Do you have a big enough d*** to have a drink with me?’, Or, ‘I’m sorry, this is too much for you because you’re not real enough.”

‘You wanted something a bit agricultural. I had two big visual touchstones. The first was the Australian term bogan, which can be ᴀssociated with a certain level of toxic masculinity.’

He added: ‘And the other was the character Rooster from Jerusalem, played so brilliantly by Mark Rylance.’