Ben Smallbone Says He and Brother Joel Almost Never Worked Together Again Before 'Drummer Boy'

Ben Smallbone is opening up about a chapter of his family story that fans rarely get to see. The filmmaker told ChurchLeaders that a personal and professional rift with his brother Joel, of for KING + COUNTRY fame, nearly derailed their new film“Drummer Boy.”The two started making movies together as teenagers and collaborated on 28 music videos, until about three years ago when they told each other they might never work together again. The timing was painfully ironic: the movie they were developing was all about brothers finding reconciliation and forgiveness.

When the project resurfaced about a year ago, both brothers initially refused to work together. Then Joel flew to Utah, where Ben was filming the series“Homestead,”and the two met at a coffee shop. That conversation led to an emotional reconciliation, and“Drummer Boy”became possible. Ben’s quote about the situation says it all:“And here we are developing a movie, celebrating brothers coming back together, finding reconciliation, finding forgiveness, and we couldn’t find it.”

The story lands for anyone who has navigated a strained family relationship, especially when business is tangled up in it. For for KING + COUNTRY fans, it adds real weight to a film that was built on the very thing the brothers were fighting to find. Have you ever had to repair a relationship that felt permanently broken?