James McAvoy is very proud of his Scottish heritage. The actor, best known for his roles in Atonement, The Last King of Scotland, and the younger Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise, hit the Toronto International Film Festival last weekend for the premiere of his directorial debut, California Schemin’.
To help publicise the movie, McAvoy—who beefed up for his role in last year’s Speak No Evil–spoke to The Hollywood Reporter. However, what seems to be grabbing more attention is a photo he posed for.
McAvoy, 46, wears a plain, grey kilt and sits with his legs spread wide.
#CaliforniaSchemin star James McAvoy rocks the kilt in our #TIFF50 suite at the 1 Hotel Toronto https://t.co/WfLjApiFWc pic.twitter.com/aFNzQoAdRH
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 6, 2025
How about we take this to the next level?
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stepping into the director era has never looked this hot https://t.co/1Zu08olTZZ
— tσαϊάνα (@chchchchchai) September 6, 2025
WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE HIS MANSPREAD TWICE IN A YEAR?!?! pic.twitter.com/qdVlXgGoUd
— wes JAMES MCAVOY DAY (@daftundirekt) September 7, 2025
he could literally ruin my life with that stare and i’d say thank you like a polite little disaster
— Ana Karen ♡ (@onlyanakaren) September 6, 2025
Crazily, some uneducated folk on the internet claimed McAvoy was “cross dressing” and pushing a queer Hollywood agenda.
HILARIOUS that Hollywood has tried and failed for 60 YEARS to normalize this for straight men.
Maybe one more degenerate cross dressing celeb will do it! 😂
Keep trying!
— NYC Survivor (@survivor_nyc) September 7, 2025
McAvoy is married to a woman and, as far as we are aware, is straight. And that’s a kilt, even if it’s not in tartan.
Before anyone starts calling it gay and woke, just wanna tell you all that he is Scottish and men in Scotland do wear a kind of skirt called ‘kilt’
— Avinash (@Black_Wayfarer) September 6, 2025
California Schemin’
California Schemin’ is based on a true story about two Scottish friends in the early 00s who tried to become a successful rap act. However, when they traveled to London to perform for a record label, their Scottish accents resulted in them being laughed out of the room and dissed as the “rapping Proclaimers.”
Bitter at the rejection, they then decided to fake California accents, claim to be childhood friends of Eminem, and said they grew up in the “projects” in Beverly Hills.
The ruse led to renewed interest from record labels. However, the pressure of maintaining the facade and denying their Scottishness proved too much for them.
McAvoy told the Hollywood Reporter that he identified with the story as he knew Scottish actors had to tone down or change their accents to succeed beyond the borders of their own country.
You can get away with that as an actor, but not as a rap artist whose street cred relies partly on authenticity.
California Schemin’ explores the tension between craving success and choosing to minimize one’s background to achieve it.
“The boys paid a great price for their gambit, but I was excited to tell the legend of what they did, and that’s what the people of Scotland go wild for,” McAvoy told THR.
The movie’s producers are currently negotiating with distributors for a release in North America.
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