“The Old Way,” a new western starring Nicolas Cage, features an original score by Lafayette composer Andrew Morgan Smith.
“I wrote all the music you hear in the movie, from the guitars playing to the orchestra violins singing along, that’s all me,” said Smith.
Smith did all that work from his home studio in Youngsville, where he coordinated with producers, mixers and then eventually an orchestra in Budapest, which brought his work to life.
“Whenever I get put on to these pictures it has a lot of weight riding on my shoulders,” said Smith on the importance of music in a movie. “You get it right, and then the movie can do well and have a shot, but you do it wrong and it can go the wrong way pretty fast.”
Smith isn’t the only Louisiana connection to “The Old Way." One of the film’s producers, Micah Haley, is a Louisiana-native.
“We’re really children of the Louisiana film incentives program,” said Haley. “So we shot this movie in Montana, and the best solution to finish post production and sound and to do the score was to bring it back to our home state.”
"I’m tremendously fortunate to have the opportunities I’ve had," said Smith. "It is all these places that my music has gone, which is really wild to see. I mean it’s just all over the world."
“The Old Way” is currently showing in theaters in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but will be available on streaming platforms on Friday, January 13.
