Ben Smallbone Opens Up About Rift With Brother Joel and How Forgiveness Shaped ‘Drummer Boy’

Ben Smallbone had already decided he never wanted to work with his brother Joel again. Then Joel flew to Utah, where Ben was working on the television series Homestead, and the two sat down in a coffee shop. They hugged, cried and apologized for what they had said to each other. They also agreed to make a film about two brothers who find themselves on opposite sides of a war.

That film, Drummer Boy, opens November 6 through Angel Studios. Ben told The Christian Post that the Christmas musical had been in development since 2018, but the experience of repairing his relationship with Joel changed the story they wanted to tell. "What I've discovered with my brother is that forgiveness breeds freedom," he said.

The brothers had been making films together since their teens. Ben went into filmmaking, while Joel became one half of the Grammy-winning Christian duo for KING + COUNTRY alongside their brother Luke. Their careers continued to overlap through music videos and the 2016 film Priceless. By Ben's account, the falling-out was both personal and professional, leaving him unsure whether that long collaboration would ever resume.

In Drummer Boy, Joel plays Jeremiah Clem, who sides with the British Crown during the American Revolution. His younger brother Benjamin, played by Lucas Leach, joins the Patriots as a drummer boy. Melora Hardin of The Office plays their mother, Rachel, who fears losing both sons. India Brown plays Emmaline, an enslaved childhood friend of the brothers whose pursuit of freedom gives the film another perspective on the colonies' fight for independence.

The project grew out of for KING + COUNTRY's rendition of "Little Drummer Boy" and features original music from the duo. Ben said he drew on the carol's image of a child offering Jesus the gift he has. In the film, that idea takes shape on a battlefield, where the young drummer has a chance to use his gift to help make peace between people who have turned against one another.

Ben and Joel co-directed the film, which also stars Ioan Gruffudd, Charles Esten, Iain Glen and Beverley Knight. Drummer Boy opens in cinemas in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on Friday, November 6.