Joel and Luke Smallbone Call UNSUNG HERO ‘A Family Affair’
By Movieguide® Contributor
For KING & COUNTRY’s Luke and Joel Smallbone recently discussed how they’re spotlighting the importance of family in their upcoming movie UNSUNG HERO.
“There’s a quote that Mother Theresa said many years ago that I find to be kind of the thesis statement of this film, and that is this: ‘If you want to change the world, go home and love your family,’” Luke said. “Our family is like any other family. We are not a perfect family, and if you see the movie, you’re going to see that pretty quickly. Not a perfect family but a family that does believe in each other.
He continued, “I think the power of family is more important now than ever in the history of the world, and we need to see those stories about family up on the silver screen.”
“We’ve always been part of a large family, and we’ve always worked and done life together, and so this film was really just a great extension of what music has been,” Joel added. “We sort of all banded together to create what is for KING & COUNTRY, and so when we stepped into UNSUNG HERO, it felt like this natural extension of the family.”
Joel explained that UNSUNG HERO is “an honor project” for the Smallbone family “but not a glory project.”
“This really dives into the ego and the struggle of what it means to be a man,” he explained. “It really dives into the unsung hero that is our mom and our sister. It certainly is a family affair [and] will continue to be.”
A synopsis of UNSUNG HERO reads, “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 (for KING + COUNTRY’s Joel Smallbone) and his pregnant wife Helen (Daisy Betts) 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.”
“It dawned on us about 4 years ago that this story of immigrating from Australia to America & all the adventures & challenges we’ve walked through in between was a story that needed to be told- so we made a movie,” Luke wrote in an Instagram post. “It’s our hope that this story encourages you & your family as working on this project & reflecting has encouraged ours.”
Movieguide® previously reported on one of UNSUNG HERO’s stars and producers, Candace Cameron Bure:
“The film is truly amazing, it truly is,” Bure added. “I’ve seen it, obviously, a few times now, and I’m so proud of it. I talked with Joel and Luke before about the project, and they were like, ‘Hey, we’d love to send this to you and see if you want to collaborate on it,’ And it’s always a little bit scary when it’s coming from friends because you’re like, oh man, if I don’t like this, this is kind of awkward.’”
“They sent me the script, and I read it without expectation. I just wanted to read it with fresh eyes and see if it was, you know – let them have my honest opinion and if it was good or bad and if it was something that I wanted to be a part of,” Bure continued. “Man, I devoured that script. I really did. I devoured it, and I was like, ‘Yes. Yes, you guys need to make this. Yes, I would love to be a part of it, whether it is as a producer’ – and then it was like, well, there’s and acting part, so I was like, yeah, bonus.”
The movie focuses on the importance of family.
“It’s stellar and it truly is all about family and it’s going through all the hard times, sticking together, coming out through it, I mean, they did and amazing job. But it’s really about seeing the journey and what families can go through but also accomplish together and especially within marriage when you’re always refining one another, husband and wife, that’s what marriage is all about,” Bure added.
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