{"id":740,"date":"2024-04-19T10:57:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T14:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/?p=740"},"modified":"2024-04-22T15:49:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T19:49:50","slug":"joel-smallbone-steps-into-fathers-shoes-in-unsung-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/04\/19\/joel-smallbone-steps-into-fathers-shoes-in-unsung-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Smallbone Steps Into Father&#8217;s Shoes in &#8216;Unsung Hero&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GRAMMY Award-winning Joel Smallbone (for KING + COUNTRY) traces the faithfulness of God and the determination of his parents in his new passion project, \u201cUnsung Hero,\u201d released this week from Kingdom Story Company. The longtime passion project, where Smallbone finds himself literally in his father\u2019s shoes (\u201cI\u2019ve dubbed it a very expensive therapy session\u201d), tells his family\u2019s story as they leave their home of Australia in hopes of a new life in America.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_767\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-767\" style=\"width: 1640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-767\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/452\/2024\/04\/joel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1640\" height=\"924\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-767\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joel Smallbone stars as David Smallbone in &#8216;Unsung Hero.&#8217; Image courtesy of Lionsgate.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve been telling our family&#8217;s story since the beginning of the band,\u201d Smallbone explains. \u201cWe sort of used it as a pay-it-forward moment to the audience to go \u2018Hey, if it wasn&#8217;t for people like yourself, we wouldn&#8217;t be in this country anymore\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Joel and his brother Luke continued sharing, some came forward to urge them to document it either in book or movie form. With a heart for drama and theatrics, Smallbone and co-writer\/co-director Richard L. Ramsey started working on the screenplay in the fall of 2020. Soon, producers and Kingdom Story Company came on board, along with an impressive cast, including Daisy Betts playing David\u2019s wife Helen, Lucas Black and Candace Cameron Bur\u00e9 as a couple who befriend the Smallbones, Terry O\u2019Quinn as Grandpa James, and Kirrilee Berger as the brothers\u2019 sister Rebecca St. James, who first broke through in the Christian music industry in the early 90\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Like previous Kingdom Story Company releases, the film has roots and touches with the Nashville contemporary Christian music scene. Music pioneer and producer Eddie DeGarmo (portrayed by Joshua Jackson) plays a key role as David\u2019s friend and employer, and there are also portrayals of Amy Grant, Stryper, and Carman. As a musical tie-in, the official \u201cInspired By\u201d includes reworked versions of classic songs such as \u201cPlace in This World\u201d featuring Michael W. Smith, \u201cLead Me On\u201d featuring Amy Grant, and \u201cTo Hell with the Devil (Rise)\u201d featuring Stryper and Lecrae.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of our earliest memories is sitting in front of a record player holding a vinyl 45 of Stryper\u2019s \u2018The Yellow &amp; Black Attack\u2019 cover,\u201d Smallbone says. \u201cThis song was a fun one to reinvent and think through as a duo \u2013 and Lecrae, performing what we believe is one of his greatest raps yet; coupled with Michael Sweet reinventing his iconic guitar solo at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smallbone admits there\u2019s a balance in telling his family\u2019s personal story, warts and all. David loses faith after he continues to encounter unsurmountable odds in his quest to provide for his family, while Helen remains resilient: \u201cWe certainly wanted it to be an honor project to family, but we did not want it to be a glory project for our family,\u201d he says. \u201cTo honor someone well, you want to tell all sides of the story. He&#8217;s sort of a very conflicted character throughout the whole film. It was a very conflicting time in his life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, David and Helen were also on hand to add minor notes that helped keep the story authentic to what really happened, since Joel\u2019s perspective could differ at certain points.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Mum and Dad were really gracious in giving us the room to push and pull on the story,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt is very accurate, sort of remarkably accurate, as far as true stories and film a concern. But there were a couple of times we sent them the scripts as we were developing it, when we go to their place, and they were certainly a couple of comments and ideas and thoughts (they offered).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As far as the final confirmation, when the real David watched his son\u2019s portrayal and direction in the final film, the verdict was positive. Joel said David, who became the film\u2019s biggest champion, paid him the biggest compliment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said you externalized visually what all that I was internalizing emotionally,\u201d he says. \u201cI took a lot of pride in the fact that I was able to present to the audience what he was really going through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than telling his family\u2019s story, however, Smallbone\u2019s highest hope is that the story points people to the transforming power of the \u201cgreatest storyteller who ever lived.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJesus\u2019 medium of communication was stories, and if it\u2019s good enough for Him, it\u2019s good enough for us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnsung Hero,\u201d starring Daisy Betts, Joel Smallbone, Kirrilee Berger, Jonathan Jackson, Lucas Black, with Candace Cameron Bure, and Terry O\u2019Quinn, releases April 26 from Kingdom Story Company and Lionsgate Studios.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GRAMMY Award-winning Joel Smallbone (for KING + COUNTRY) traces the faithfulness of God and the determination of his parents in his new passion project, \u201cUnsung Hero,\u201d released this week from Kingdom Story Company. The longtime passion project, where Smallbone finds himself literally in his father\u2019s shoes (\u201cI\u2019ve dubbed it a very expensive therapy session\u201d), tells&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":683,"featured_media":743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[200,119],"tags":[203],"class_list":["post-740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-news","category-music-news","tag-unsung-hero"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Joel Smallbone Steps Into Father&#039;s Shoes in &#039;Unsung Hero&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GRAMMY Award-winning Joel Smallbone (for KING + COUNTRY) traces the faithfulness of God and the determination of his parents in his new passion project, 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Through the years, DeWayne has conducted hundreds of interviews with award-winning actors, actresses and directors, popular media personalities, beloved music icons, pioneering industry leaders, and bestselling authors, centering on topics related to faith, spirituality, and family. His work has been referenced and featured in a variety of print and online publications such as Charisma magazine, Rolling Stone, Dove, Us Weekly, The Blaze, Movieguide\u00ae, and BeliefNet. DeWayne is also a member of the Critics\u2019 Choice Association, the #BestofSMS social media professionals\u2019 group, and has served in an advisory role in communications and marketing initiatives for a variety of non-profit organizations. DeWayne earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Lee University and currently lives in the Orlando area with his wife and three daughters. 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