Exclusive Interview with Joel Smallbone about Unsung Hero movie

Hey guys, it's Gail with Everything Nash here with a fabulous Jill Smallbone

not to talk about for King and Country, but to talk about unsung hero, a fantastic new movie

Talk about it. I'm so curious. It's a great movie. Let's just, we can end right there. It's a fantastic movie

But I'm so curious why you wanted to tell this story and why you wanted to tell it now

Well, first of all, Gail, from L.A. to Nashville. It's nice to be, it's funny. We could have been in person in another

form of this. I'll be back tomorrow, but thank you for taking the time. I have to give credit

with credits due. It was actually Luke, Brother Luke, who makes up the other half of the king

country, he is told, and we have told this story from stage about our parents moving from Australia

to the United States and all the tragedies and triumphs that they faced along the way. We've told

this story from stage since the beginning of the band. It's kind of like a pay it forward child

advocacy, you know, part of the show. And it's always been really resonant, you know

and everyone's comments like, oh, you should write, you should write a book about this. And Luke

jokes that we were homeschooled, so we don't read and write very well. But we'll do one better

We'll give you a, we'll give you a movie. And so in 2020, Luke called a producer friend and said

hey, this story just seems to resonate with so many. What do you think about putting it into development

He was like, all right, let's go. And honestly, there's been naturally, there's been twists and turns and bumps and is it

going to happen? Is it not from that day to this? But it was really just this idea of rising up and calling our mom blessed and also highlighting

the power of family banding together highlighting highlighting the power of music and miracles and the 90s and bringing it to the silver screen

Was it a given when you decided to do the movie that you were going to be in it or did that come after

It's really interesting because now the storyline is you co-wrote it, you co-directed it with

Richard Ramsey and you played your dad. That was really self-indulgent. or like you bit off a lot at least

And the truth is at the beginning, the only thing I thought from the moment we started talking about it

was it'd be really interesting for me to play dad. I had that thought almost immediately

All the other things just sort of came along with the territory

And look, with being a musician as my day job, you know this

You have to do all things all the time. You have to be the writer. You have to be the recorder

You have to be the editor. You have to be the director, the producer, the performer

And so when it came time to a movie, it was sort of shorthand. It was like, okay, well, we'll just do that, you know

What did your family think? Because it's such a powerful story. There's also some really humbling moments in there

So what was your family's reaction to you telling the story? They were very kind, particularly mom and particularly dad

I just found this out a couple weeks ago, Gail, that dad had never actually

actually read the script. We sent it to him. And he sort of alluded like, yeah, mom and me

you read it, but he actually never read the script because he wanted to protect the project

from him having too much of a sort of manipulative voice to the script, which I thought was very

courageous. But we did sit them down in a screening room when we were still in the edit

the whole family and played it for them And mom wept And dad went and talked to the projector operator So I think they handled it in their own way But I get the sense Dad watched it like 20 times since I get the sense that the spirit of it

highlighting their journey, highlighting the struggle, highlighting our sister Rebecca, that it's been a very redemptive project overall

What are your memories of that time when your family was struggling? You moved to the States

You were struggling so much financially. went from this beautiful house to, you know, this tiny house

What are your memories of it? Adventure. It was really interesting because my childhood memories were like bands coming to Australia

and vinyl 45 records and striper and spandex and Sydney Opera House

And then we came here and it was like cricket in the house and, you know

raking leaves and mowing lawns and banding together and traveling. is only when I got to adulthood that you, and particularly writing this and then dropping into

dad's shoes or more specifically even his jacket from 30 years ago, that I went, oh my goodness

the stress and the strain and the insecurity and the pride and the fear and everything in

between so much of what he was dealing with, particularly dad, was really profound

And so I, yeah, it was a great adventure. And I hope people feel that because it's like this juxtaposition in the movie where

And one half, it's these kids having this adventure. And then in the other hand, there's this really, you know

the parents trying to hold it all together. And then then intersecting, you know

the kids and the parents sort of playing off each other throughout. So it was kind of end and both in the end in the film project

Any hesitancy about telling the story, especially with you named artists, not in a bad way

but there are artists mentioned this. Any hesitancy? There was hesitancy. It's a great question

I've not been asked that. There was hesitancy from Richard he actually renamed everyone including the family in the early scripts And I felt it disingenuine

Come hell or high water, I thought, you have to tell. The tenants of this story have to be honest, and you have to just tell it as it is

It was a true story. It's not based on a true story. It's not inspired by a true story. It just is a true story

And all of the tenants have to be told with tact, but also genuinely

as it happened. Well, it's fantastic. Any more acting projects coming up for you

You do so well on the big screen. Oh my goodness. Thank you. Thank you, Gail

I appreciate it from people like you too who have sort of, we've been in this whole like music

now movies, journey for so long. So it's a high compliment from you

The short answer is yes. We're working on a project, a Christmas musical set in the Civil War

about a girl who's in slavery and two brothers who end up on opposite sides of the battlefield called drummer boy

And so my hope is that that will be the next, the next, and it kind of scratches all of the itches

It's like, it's the band, it's drummer boy, it's Christmas, it's our own music, it's movie

it's sort of like the magnum opus. So let's stay focused on Unsung Hero

Let's stay focused on the 90s and 90s music and moms and miracles and family and faith

and this coming out on the 26th, which happens to be our parents' 49th wedding anniversary

and a day that we're calling Family Day. Let's focus on that and then we'll get to the next thing

Also, I have to let you go. I loved the burn the ships in that one scene

I was like, oh, that's where burn the ships comes from. I wanted, when I first read it, I wanted to cut it because I was like, this is just kind of hokey

but isn't it profound? It's great. All right, I have to let you go, Joel. I always love talking to you, and let's do this again soon

Thank you for your thoughtfulness. As always, Gail. Thank you. Bye, sweetie