The Rolling Tape was kindly invited to the roundtable of California Schemin’, featuring actor-director James McAvoy and the cast: Seamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottemley, and Lucy Halliday.
California Schemin was the closing film of the Glasgow Film Festival and is set to release in UK cinemas on April 10.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Matthew: Hi, I am Matthew Allan from The Rolling Tape. First of all, thanks for having me. My first question to you, James, obviously, with your career, you have been lucky to work with M. Night Shyamalan, Danny Boyle, and Jon S. Baird. I’ve got to get a bit of appreciation for Filth in there.
James: I’m working with him [Jon S. Baird] right now as well.
Matthew: I was just wondering, with all those experiences, did it give you any kind of inspiration when you approached the directing chair for the first time?
James: Yeah, a little bit. Joe Wright was a particular inspiration for how I approached working with the crew, particularly. Weirdly, it was a theater director that I riffed off the most for how I sort of worked with the actors and approached these guys mainly in rehearsals. That was Jamie Lloyd, a theater director I’ve worked with a lot over the last twenty years. But as you referenced him, Baird was a massive help to me in post-production, a really good sounding board and experienced head. James Watkins, as well, is another director I leaned on a little bit. But Jon was brilliant. He watched like three or four different versions of the film, which was really helpful and generous of him to do so.
Matthew: For yourselves, Seamus, Samuel, and Lucy, we’re wondering, as the audience, we are used to seeing James as a performer, what was that experience like working with James in the directing chair?
Seamus: It’s a huge person, he got this incredible focus, like creative focus, and knows the game inside out. I always talk about football, but it’s like when you’re playing with someone who is at a certain level, you have to raise your game. But it didn’t feel like a massive stretch; he really just said to us things like I want to see you, the character will come later. Instilled in us a sense of belief in ourselves and backing ourselves, like it didn’t feel we had to kinda meet James McAvoy. He really believed in us, and by proxy, working with him, your levels do change.
California Schemin follows two Scottish lads from Dundee who conned the music industry by pretending to be an established Californian rap duo. After securing a record deal and appearing on MTV, their scam unravels. You can read The Rolling Tapes’ review of the film here.
Interview Courtesy of Matthew Allan
Feature Image Courtesy of Mark Mainz