Ordinary World (2016)

Interesting facts

Ordinary World is a 2016 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Lee Kirk. The film stars Billie Joe Armstrong in his first lead acting role, and the cast includes Judy Greer, Selma Blair, Madisyn Shipman, Dallas Roberts, Chris Messina, Fred Armisen, Brian Baumgartner, and Kevin Corrigan. The film follows Perry, a former punk musician who has since settled down, as he navigates a midlife crisis spurred by his 40th birthday.

Production

Lee Kirk's debut film, The Giant Mechanical Man, premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2012. During the four-year production of The Giant Mechanical Man, Kirk fell in love with and married Jenna Fischer, who produced and acted in that film; the couple had their first child in September 2011. Around this time, Kirk began developing Ordinary World, with one of its themes being the ways that having a child changes a person.

Billie Joe Armstrong is the lead singer of the American rock band Green Day. According to Armstrong, he "caught the acting bug" after playing St. Jimmy in American Idiot (2010–2011), the Broadway musical based on the band's music, and continued to take small acting roles from there. His talent agent connected him with Kirk, and Armstrong accepted the role after reading the script for Ordinary World.

Armstrong wrote four songs for Ordinary World, including "Devil's Kind" and "Ordinary World". Regarding the latter, Kirk initially asked Armstrong to write a song "thinking about the past and trying to reconcile", to soundtrack a scene where his character sang to Greer's. After Armstrong penned the song, Kirk instead decided that the song should be about "family and simplicity of life".

Both of Armstrong's sons contributed music to Ordinary World: Jakob Armstrong, his younger son, contributed "King of the World" to the soundtrack, and Joey Armstrong, his older son, likewise contributed a song via his band SWMRS. Joey also appeared within a party scene in the film. In addition, the film includes a cover of "Unsatisfied" by the Replacements.

Armstrong insisted that music played in the movie be done live, rather than being lip-synched, to differentiate it from other music movies. This led to Fred Armisen, Lucas Papelias, and Kevin Corrigan being cast as Armstrong's bandmembers, due to their ability to play instruments. Kirk further speculated that Armisen, Chris Messina, Greer, and Selma Blair all joined the cast to work with Armstrong.

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