When David Smallbone’s successful music company collapses, he moves his family from Australia to the United States in search of a brighter future. With nothing more than their six children, their suitcases, and their love of music, David and his pregnant wife Helen set out to rebuild their lives from the ground up. Based on a remarkable true story, a mum’s faith stands against all odds; and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs.
Ten years ago I worked with For King & Country’s Joel Smallbone on Like A Country Song. We went to CMA fest together, had the premiere in Nashville and even celebrated his 30th birthday with the cast. A decade later he brings his family origin story to the screen in Lionsgate’s Unsung Hero. Smallbone co-wrote and stars as his dad, David, in this very personal story. We talked about sharing it with audiences, his sister Rebecca St. James, and Candace Cameron Bure playing her first character true-to-life.
Interviewed for Family Entourage
Family Entourage: It was such a pleasure to get to see Unsung Hero. I love that this is the origin story of your parents and kind of your family. Talk to me a little bit. Seven kids, you moved from Australia to United States… at what time did you think this is the format and this is a way that we should share our stories with others?
Joel Smallbone: Luke has told our parents and Rebecca’s origin story from stage for years, kind of a pay-it-forward-child-advocacy moment in the performance. And a lot of people have come and said, you should write a book. And Luke’s joke is that we were homeschooled so we don’t read and write very well, so we’ll make a movie instead. And so in 2020, actually right in the middle of the pandemic, he called a producer and he said, what do you think about putting this into development? And the guy said, let’s do it. And so obviously there’s a load of twists and turns between that day and this, but we feel as though sometimes it’s really important to look back to know where you’re going. And it’s really, we love telling these stories and we love our mom and our dad and we love the idea of giving the world the true, not based on, not inspired by, but the very true story of how the small bones came to be. And also the fact that we really, Luke and I really, we were so young, we’re kind of ancillary stories in this. It’s really mom’s story. It’s really a story about miracles and music and family and faith. And so yeah, here we are. Pretty trippy.
FE: So you wrote the script and then you also play your dad, David. So talk to me about what it looked like. Did you sit down with him and your family and talk about these moments? Did you say, I’m writing the script, you can read it after or just surprise them in the theater.
JS: I have to give credit to Richard Ramsey because there would be nothing. Richard Ramsey co-directed it with me and there would be nothing more sort of turbulent than trying to do it on my own. And I will say I knew from day one, I just thought it was really novel. The idea of playing my dad. And there’s past Shia LaBeouf did it in Honeyboy and there’s been prior examples of this sort of thing happening. But I felt like I know this guy, I’m bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. I’m actually really similar to him. I’ve worked with him most of my life. He’s still with us. The writing and the directing kind of came as more after the fact because it was just sort of out of necessity. And I will say being a musician really helps because in music know how it is. You have to be all things to all people all the time. You’re the writer, you’ve got to record it. You’re the editor, you’re the producer, you’re the director. And so it actually felt like sort of shorthand to just go and do that in the film.
FE: Family-centric, at the core of it all… your mom sacrifices, all of you rising to the occasion to work any odd job, Rebecca, dare I say, actually the one that kind of changes the landscape for the family altogether. So maybe talk about the strength and the resilience and the humility that you all were able to have to be able to be on the top today, so to speak.
JS: What I love about this film is that our family, because of the trust we’ve built, gave us such grace to tell it in a really grounded, gritty, warts and all type of way. It’s an adventure film, obviously it’s a family film, but it’s also very much a drama. And we tried to not shy away from the complexity, particularly for Dad, the complexity of the insecurity and the compounding failure and the pride that he was facing in that time. And I’m pleased to say that we’re all still very much intact. And I’m pleased by the fact that, like you said, so often when you just take a snapshot of where we are now, it’s really easy to actually find it unrelatable, call it fame, call it celebrity, whatever you want to call it. But I really love this idea of going, no, I am. You are me. This is where we came from. We all have the same human experiences. And so I hope this is a bit of a grounding exercise for not only the king country audience, but for people in general going, oh yeah, we’re not all that different after all.
FE: You and I have known each other for a decade plus, and when we first met, I had no idea I’d do my first research on you and I’m like, oh, Rebecca St. James, as fans know her, is your sister and she’s married to somebody who was in Foster The People and you and your brother have a band. And it just must’ve been so easy. You’re just so talented. And it just came together. So I love that you guys are able to share at any awesome success story. There is a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice that comes along the way and many opportunities. There were so many times I was watching and I thought, why doesn’t your mom just take you all home?
JS: Mom is really the unsung hero for me of the film. Rebecca is as well. I love that you picked up. She’s really the one that sort of pulled us out of poverty. But mom felt very safe in dad’s love and still does to this day. But her steadiness in those moments where everything, her dream was to have a family and is to have a family. And so she was living out her dream and the kindness of a woman who’s living out her dream to go to her spouse, I want you to find yours. And I’m at almost any cost. As long as I feel emotionally safe and protected and relationally seen, I’m going to go to the ends of the earth literally with you, for you to follow your dream. I just loved that. I thought it was a real power in marriage and collaborating with your spouse that this film represents.
FE: I have to ask, I know Candace Cameron was also a producer on the project and is in it. Is her character a real life person? Is it a composite of how you felt the church treated you? Talk to me a little bit about them.
JS: I can’t thank Candace enough. This was an independent film and she was actually the first came on executive producer, and then as you mentioned, first real to life character that she’s ever played. And she came on early before anyone else did and just gave it such power from the beginning. So enormously grateful. She is, she’s sort of a composite character of two people, Luann and Kay, who she was named after Kay Smith. And so they represented really a lot of the kindness and community through Nashville and even through the local church that we felt in those very fragile early months and really year in the States. And what I’m really proud of too is that a lot of this, is it’s very real to life. We even took out the inspired by all the true story. We were like, it just is a true story
FE: And I love that it’s perfectly placed for audiences to see it. What did I hear you say? It was on your parents? 49th —
JS: 49th wedding anniversary. And speaking of Lionsgate, Adam Fogelson, who runs Lionsgate, he picked that date and had no idea. So about a week later, I’m on the phone with mom and we told her the date and she said, oh, that’s our 49th wedding anniversary, right? And I said, yes!
Unsung Hero in theatres April 26
Review: The film is a beautiful way to celebrate family, and definitely recommend for inspiration, hope, renewed faith and also if you are fans of For King & Country or Rebecca St. James. Perfect for families ages middle school and older because of heavier themes like homelessness and abuse.
