Meet the Brooklyn barback who plays his own grandfather in ‘Unbroken’

Stephen J. Douglas portrays his grandfather in the upcoming feature "Unbroken."Photo: Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

For 26-year-old Stephen J. Douglas, appearing in a small role in the movie "Unbroken" was personal. With just a few minutes of screen time, he brings to life the moment that made his Purple Heart-adorned grandfather a World War II hero.

"Unbroken," in theaters Dec. 25, tells the true-life story of a different hero, Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who became a Japanese prisoner of war after his plane suffered mechanical failures, leaving him stranded at sea for 47 days in 1943.

But before any of that happened, Zamperini was flying high atop the South Pacific in Super Man, his assigned B-24 bomber. In a battle depicted at the beginning of the Angelina Jolie-directed "Unbroken," Japanese Zero fighter planes attacked. Among the crew was Stephen's grandfather, flight engineer Clarence Douglas.

"They crash landed, but my grandfather's big claim to fame was that he stuck to his gun even though he got shrapnel in his shoulder and his leg," Stephen tells The Post. "He stayed at his gun and took down the last Japanese fighter plane that was coming for them."

Director Angelina Jolie on the set of "Unbroken."Photo: David James/Universal Pictures

In 2010, Stephen's father Tom had been enthralled by the inclusion of Clarence, who passed when Stephen was a child, in the book by Laura Hillenbrand on which "Unbroken" is based — a nonfiction best seller. He reached out to the publisher to offer photos he had of his father, which eventually got him in touch with the film's production designer.

It was in those conversations that the idea emerged that Stephen — who has a BFA in film and has worked behind the camera as a production assistant on shows like "Survivor" and "The X Factor" — could play the part of his own grandfather.

When Jolie heard about the legacy, she was hooked. Despite having a professional acting résumé that consisted of nothing more than gigs dressing up as a wiener at the annual Coney Island hot dog eating contest, Stephen didn't even have to audition.

Jack O'Connell as Louis Zamperini in "Unbroken."Photo: Universal Studios

"It was huge," he says. "I mean, I never expected anything like this to happen."

After filming wrapped, Jolie sent him a Tiffany's Swiss Army knife engraved with Clarence's name and a handwritten note that reads, "You are wonderful in the film. You make your grandfather proud."

As the film's opening looms, Douglas is back home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where he works at a restaurant counter and a bar as a barback. But the acting bug has bitten him, and he's pursuing auditions.

No one is as ecstatic about that first part, though, as Stephen's father, with whom Stephen says he has deepened his relationship over the research of Clarence's life.

"You have no idea. He has to tell everyone — my third-grade teacher, the woman who directed plays in high school," says Stephen. "It's getting to the point where I have to be like, 'Dad, could you just not give out my e-mail to everybody, please?' "

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