Director Ben Smallbone said a tearful coffee-shop reunion with his brother, singer and actor Joel Smallbone, helped turn their own journey toward forgiveness into the heart of their upcoming Christmas musical, DRUMMER BOY.
“We sat in the coffee shop, and we hugged, and we cried together, and we apologized for words that were said,” Ben recalled in an interview with The Christian Post published Nov. 3. For the brothers, making a story about a divided family meant first confronting a division in their own.
Ben described a personal and professional conflict about three years ago that left him questioning whether he and Joel would ever work together again. He recalled growing up making amateur movies with Joel and later collaborating professionally but said their relationship eventually reached a breaking point.
The turn came about a year ago, according to Ben. While he was working on the HOMESTEAD television series in Utah, Joel flew out to meet him as interest grew in reviving DRUMMER BOY. The brothers sat down together, apologized and chose to try again.
“And we decided in that moment that we’re going to endeavor to forgive and reconcile and make this movie together, Ben said, describing the resulting project as deeply personal, shaped by the forgiveness and reconciliation they practiced while making it.
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That distinction matters to the story he is telling: reconciliation was not simply a message the brothers wanted to put on a screen. In Ben’s account, it became something they had to pursue with each other before bringing their shared project forward. He did not describe an effortless partnership, but a decision to rebuild one.
DRUMMER BOY hits theaters on Nov. 6, 2026. Ben and Joel directed. The PG-13 musical follows a young drummer boy, an enslaved woman and a divided family searching for freedom during America’s fight for independence.
Joel plays Jeremiah Clem, while actor Lucas Leach plays his younger brother, Benjamin. Their loyalties put them on opposing sides of the Revolutionary War, making the family’s struggle to forgive part of the larger fight for freedom. Actresses Melora Hardin and India Brown play Rachel Clem and Emmaline, respectively, and actor Ioan Gruffudd plays Nathaniel Clem.
Ben told The Christian Post that the original inspiration came from the Christmas song “Little Drummer Boy” and its picture of offering a simple gift to Jesus. He described the young drummer’s journey as one of bringing peace, forgiveness and unity into a world marked by their absence. For him, the music and the brothers’ relationship serve the same central hope.
The musical’s freedom theme also carries personal meaning for Joel. As Movieguide® previously reported, he discussed becoming an American citizen during for KING + COUNTRY’s October visit to Liberty University. The university’s account of the Oct. 14 gathering records Joel connecting his adopted country with the movie’s emphasis on freedom and forgiveness.
Ben’s new interview brings that message closer to home, describing what forgiveness required within the family making the movie. He summed up the connection between the brothers’ experience and the characters’ story this way: “What I’ve discovered with my brother is that forgiveness breeds freedom. That’s what we witnessed personally, and that’s what we witnessed with these characters in the movie.”
Read Next: Discovering the Meaning of Little Drummer Boy: Joel Smallbone
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