Scoring Faith-Based Docudrama AVERAGE JOE with Composer Andrew Morgan Smith
Former high school football coach Joe Kennedy is known to many Americans for having argued — and won — a controversial 2022 U.S. Supreme Court religious liberty/First Amendment case (Kennedy v. Bremerton School District) over seven years after losing his job at Washington’s Bremerton High School due to his leading of his and rival players in public prayer following each game. However, as presented in director Harold Cronk’s faith-based docudrama Average Joe, Kennedy’s quest to secure his and others’ religious freedoms is only one of several conflicts the ex-Marine/Gulf War veteran (portrayed in the movie by Eric Close) fought as he went from the sidelines to the headlines.
Mistreated and then left behind by his foster parents as a boy, traumatized by his time on the battlefield and eventually finding order in his life via his military service, Kennedy weds his longtime love/childhood next-door neighbor Denise (played by Amy Acker), and after becoming a born-again Christian, becomes an inspiring force to his young athletes and his community as an assistant coach for Bremerton High’s football Knights.
Yet when Kennedy’s commitment to his faith inspires him to share it with both the youths he’s been hired to turn into on and off-field champions and the fans who cheer for those soon-to-be adults, his concerned employers first suspend and then fire the beloved coach, positioning Kennedy to tackle the greatest challenge ever posed to his faith, his reputation, and his future.
Though composer Andrew Morgan Smith (The Old Way, Jeepers Creepers III)’s intense, touching and triumphant score for the faith-based feature film captures the excitement of Friday night football, the agony of Joe’s childhood disappointment, the brutal yet noble memories of his military life and the uncertainty that afflicted himself and Denise during his legal tussle with the Washington school district, Smith’s music is, first and foremost, an aural connection to the remarkable love shared by the Kennedys: one that links to every struggle and success they experience.
Chronologically following Joe’s journey and developing in both mood and style, Smith’s theme for the character rises from vulnerable to resilient as Kennedy endures uncaring parents, boot camp bullying and undisciplined athletes before discovering both his talent for leadership and his faith’s power to help him and Denise survive amidst the nationwide debate over his Supreme Court case.
The composer’s love motif for the Kennedys’ commitment to each other also grows from intimate to grand, with often dramatic interpretations during Cronk’s re-tellings of the couple’s most uncertain times and uplifting variations during Joe and Denise’s happier interactions.
Smith’s orchestration of Average Joe’s score gives the film a durable emotional foundation, with fast rhythms for Joe’s unstoppable determination, plus strings and guitars evoking both Joe and Denise’s romance as well as his battle for his beliefs, and haunting synths for Joe’s excruciating trial by fire during a basic training exercise, when he defies his commander — and wins over his fellow soldiers — by refusing an order to trample on an American flag. Smith explores the creation of those ingredients of his soundtrack for Average Joe and the work he undertook to deliver it to moviegoers in the following interview:
Chris Hadley: How and when did you first become involved in scoring Average Joe, and in what ways did its story and real life characters inspire and influence the music that you created for it and the approach you took to that score?
Andrew Morgan Smith (composer, Average Joe): (The film’s producers) first reached out to me in November 2023 to gauge my interest in scoring the film. A good friend and colleague, Misty Talley, who was the post (production) producer (on the film), recommended me for the job. After some interviews and an audition to picture, I was thrilled to land the gig. At the heart of Average Joe is Joe and Denise’s love story.
Despite all their challenges, they work through their issues and come out stronger together. That’s something I truly admired in the project — their love is a constant, and I wanted the score to reflect that. Their love theme, much like their bond, permeates the film. It’s woven into their romantic moments, their battles, and even in the courtroom scenes, providing a throughline that ties everything together.
CH: Describe how the score’s instrumentation and the theme you created for Joe mirrors his life story, his personality, and the moments — both good and bad — that transformed his life and informed his life’s purpose.
AMS: The story of Joe Kennedy is a heartbreaking journey, and the soundtrack plays a crucial role in shaping its tone. It’s a mix of songs and score, with (the film’s music supervisors) Jonathan McHugh and Sydney Lane doing a fantastic job curating the licensed music. The songs often provide the levity that captures Joe’s personality, while my task with the score was to emphasize the more serious moments. Instrumentally, the score needed to stay understated, with only a few exceptions. After some experimentation and collaboration, we landed on a blend of orchestra, guitars, and synths as the core color palette.
Joe’s theme gradually takes shape throughout the film, but it solidifies during his boot camp experience. Bits of it are teased earlier, but it truly emerges when he stands up to his drill sergeant — reflecting Joe’s growth. A similar cue plays when he unites his high school football team, which had struggled to function as a unit. The theme fully evolves in one of the film’s biggest score moments, when Joe decides to stand up for what he believes is right.
CH: Joe’s romance — and later, marriage to — his wife Denise (played by Amy Acker) is another pivotal part of the film’s storyline. What was your approach to scoring not just their relationship and the brief moments of intimacy between them but also Denise as her own character and the emotional highs and lows that they both experience separately and apart from each other?
AMS: Joe and Denise’s love story is central to the film. Their romance began in childhood, during a time when both were in abusive households, making their relationship a bright spot in their lives. It was important to reflect this early on in the score. Their theme often plays during scenes where they read each other’s letters, contrasting the troubles around them. Denise faces her own struggles in adulthood — an abusive first husband, health issues, and adversity from colleagues once the lawsuit begins. She doesn’t fully support Joe’s cause for much of the movie, but she’s no passive character. Throughout these moments, the love theme persists in different forms, reflecting their challenges. Sometimes it’s dark, other times it’s bright, but their love is always present in some way.
CH: Given that this movie is all about resilience and redemption (as Eric Close recently talked about in an interview about Average Joe with Woman’s World Magazine), and given that we see Joe dealing with and surviving not just the Marines but also the struggles in his personal and professional life in the film, how does the music communicate that message of resilience in terms of themes and orchestration?
AMS: In Average Joe, the score mirrors Joe’s relentless drive. He’s always on a mission, always pushing forward, and the music reflects that with propelling eighth-note motifs and ostinatos. The exception is when Joe is unsure of himself — during moments of doubt or difficult decisions, the score becomes more uncertain, but once Joe commits to a path, the music pushes forward with him.
CH: Some of the film’s most intense scenes take place when we see Joe in the Marines, and when we see how the discipline and team-building skills he learned during his time in the military influences the way he would coach and interact with his football team. Describe the work you did on those sequences, and how the score’s blending of acoustic orchestration with synthesizers added to the emotional power of those sequences?
AMS: Joe’s time in the Marines deeply shapes his life, turning him into the man he’s meant to be. This is reflected in two key scenes that mirror each other: when Joe stands up to his drill sergeant in boot camp, rallying his unit, and later, when he unites his struggling football team by having them help a teammate. These scenes are so similar that the score uses almost identical cues with slight variations.
In both, Joe draws on his Marine experience to teach a valuable lesson and bring the team together. The orchestration is similar, but for the football scene, we toned down the more intense elements. In the boot camp scene, there are distorted guitars and dissonant synth pads, creating a sense that the drill sergeant might explode at any moment. The Lyra-8 (synthesizer)’s wailing, distorted tones were perfect here. For the football scene, we dialed back that intensity but kept some dissonance in the orchestra to maintain a hint of tension.
CH: Average Joe is part sports film, part faith-based drama, part docudrama, part courtroom drama. As you worked on the score for the movie, what did you do to ensure that it not only hit all the major narrative and character beats but that it also did so in a way that wasn’t cliched or stereotypical of those aforementioned genres?
AMS: From the start, we knew we didn’t want a clichéd score, regardless of the genre. A lot of time was spent experimenting with different sounds and sonic ideas, sketching and getting feedback from the director, Harold Cronk, and the team. The score leaned towards a “less is more” approach, and I found that a minimalist blend of orchestra and guitar worked — but it needed something more unique.
That’s when I introduced textures and pads from the Subharmonicon, a poly-rhythmic synth, which provided a distinctive pad texture. We also decided early on not to use the piano in a traditional way, so it was employed more for textural effects. The Lyra-8 added the final touch with its high, wailing tones, perfect for conveying danger or discomfort. It also helped create some transitional effects, avoiding typical elements like cymbal swells.
CH: In working with the film’s director, Harold Cronk, how were you and he able to determine not just when and where the score should appear but also the emotional connection you wanted this music to have on the audience in each scene, the narrative purposes of the score during those scenes and the right balance between motifs and textures in the score?
AMS: The main note we all agreed on from the start was to avoid being heavy-handed, except in a few key moments. Often, I’d score a scene and then pull back elements if they felt overbearing. If a scene worked with just a synth layer and some guitar, that’s all we used. However, there are moments meant to feel overwhelming, like when Joe learns his family has abandoned him or when he snaps at a bully in the boys’ home. These are times when Joe loses control of his emotions, and we wanted the music to capture that chaotic intensity.
CH: Was there ever a temptation on your part to score some of the more climactic scenes in an over-the-top, “heroic” way or were you and Harold attempting to make the music for those sequences dramatic while not explicitly dictating how you wanted audiences to feel during each moment? If so, how?
AMS: The moment Joe takes a knee at the football game is a pivotal point in the score. While not meant to be overtly heroic, it marks the act that propels the rest of the movie. The music had to be powerful, capturing the significance of this inciting moment.
CH: What other themes, if any, did you write for Average Joe’s score, and how, if at all, did they connect to and contrast with Joe’s theme throughout the soundtrack?
AMS: The two main themes are the “Standing Up” theme and Joe and Denise’s love theme. These often intertwine and are used interchangeably for both characters. For example, when Denise stands up to a coworker about Joe, we hear the “Standing Up” theme. During the Gulf War montage, a minor version of the love theme plays over both characters’ struggles. There are a few recurring motifs. The “abandonment” motif, first heard in “They Moved”, reappears in “I’m the Collateral Damage” as Joe considers leaving, feeling he’s hurting Denise.
Danger is often signaled by a low note with different synth and string textures, first heard in “Never Again” as Joey is dropped off at his uncle’s boat, then again during the boot camp sequence and, to a lesser extent, with the football team. For the football sequences, the score adds fun, excitement, and energy, as you’d expect from a game. One of the advantages of having a great music supervision team was the use of licensed songs to provide levity, allowing the score to stay focused.
CH: What was the process like for scoring the football, prayer and courtroom scenes? How was the music for those scenes developed?
AMS: Many of the football scenes feature licensed music, giving them the feel of a classic sports movie. The prayer sequences evolve alongside Joe’s experience with praying on the fifty-yard line. Initially, it’s a quiet, minimal moment — Joe doesn’t give it much thought. but as the film progresses, the act becomes more defiant, and so does the music, culminating in the climactic moment of the score when Joe prays on the fifty (yard line), fully aware (that his act) may cost him his job. The courtroom scene, one of the few lighter moments I scored, provided a welcome break from the more serious tone of the rest of the film.
CH: What projects are you working on now, and what have you taken away from the experience of scoring this film?
AMS: Recently, I’ve been focusing more on concert works. I have an upcoming piece on a charity album featuring the London Symphony, conducted by the amazing Ben Palmer. I also scored a mini-series for BET+ that’s yet to be announced. I’ve really enjoyed blending synth textures with traditional orchestra and look forward to exploring that further. It was also great to work in a different genre and finally have a project I can share with my kids — a rare opportunity in my career.
Smith’s soundtrack for Average Joe is available through record label MovieScore Media on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify and other streaming platforms.
For more info on Average Joe, visit the film’s web site:
