‘Journey to Bethlehem’: Joel and Moriah Smallbone on How Film Has ‘Color and Flair’ (Exclusive)

Journey to Bethlem is out in theatres now and tells the story of Mary, Joseph and the birth of Jesus through music. Because of that, the film features Joel Smallbone of the Christian group King & Country and his wife Moriah Smallbone who is also a singer and songwriter. PopCulture.com spoke to the couple about their roles in the film as Joel plays Antipater and Moriah plays Deborah who is Mary’s sister. Joel said that executive producers Adam Anders and Nikki Anders reached out to Moriah last year and asked her if she wanted to play Deborah in the movie. 

“And after a lot of deliberation back and forth frankly, because she’s been working on a country Latin project, she said, ‘This is something I really feel passionate about,’” Jole told PopCulture. “So off she went to Spain for a month, or two months rather, and I was going to fly out and visit for about four days a month in. And about two days before I was flying out to visit, Moriah called me and said, ‘Hey, they’ve just brought on Antonio Banderas to play Herod, and they can finally cast his son,’ because they’re looking for someone who shared a likeness to him. And they wanted to invite you. So instead of coming for four days, she said, ‘Pack a bigger bag.’ And I went over for four weeks, and so that was what sparked it.”

Joel continued, “What greater story to tell than Mary and Joseph? There’ve been a lot of films about the end of Jesus’s life, The Passion of the Christ, The Chosen have done a great job of that, but not a lot of great films about the beginning. And so putting a little color and flair and music and a bit of a modern twist, it’s a real special project.”

Moriah says Deborah is a character that a lot of women can relate to because she’s all about Mary getting married and having a family. “I think Deborah and Mary both represent opposite ends of the spectrum of where a lot of women find themselves today,” she said. “You’ve got Mary who, like I said, had her plan, had her vision, had her career in front of her, and then you have Deborah who really seems to be this advocate for family and motherhood and matrimony. And I think the two really swing on the opposite ends of the pendulum, which allows for a whole narrative to be covered, a whole population of women coming from a lot of different angles. A lot of us can fall in between.”

With Joel playing Antipater, the son of King Herod, he got to spend a lot of time with Banderas on set, which was a little challenging for him. “I liken it to a few years ago we had the chance to collaborate as a band with Dolly Parton, and it’s just similar sort of prestige that comes along with that name,” he explained. “I was really pleasantly surprised with Dolly, just to find that she is as advertised. And then similarly with Antonio, he’s a very Spanish man, but he’s a very poised, a very professional, and a very kind man. And obviously, one of the great actors of our time.

“And so, man, it was a privilege. You’d have to pinch yourself even. We went and saw a screening just recently and we both looked at each other and we were like, ‘That’s us on screen.’ And then Antonio would show up and I would be there and it’d be like, ‘Wait, that’s me with Zorro. How crazy?’”