Ryan Murphy wants to cast Travis Kelce in more shows: ‘He’s just the sweetest’
Ryan Murphy explains how NFL star and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce came to star in new series, Grotesquerie. (FX/Getty)
Ryan Murphy has revealed how Taylor Swift’s beau Travis Kelce came to join his new TV series, Grotesquerie, and expressed his desire to work together again soon.
Jaws dropped earlier this year when it was announced that Kansas City Chiefs star Kelce would be making his acting debut. It’s not that Murphy doesn’t take chances on newbies – Oscar-nominee Lady Gaga got her first acting gig in American Horror Story: Hotel – but it certainly wasn’t expected that the Super-Bowl-winning tight end would be swapping shoulder pads for scripts.
Kelce will star in a yet-to-be-named role in Murphy’s 10-episode horror-drama, starring Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story actress Niecy Nash as detective Lois Tryon, who enlists the help of a nun-cum-journalist to investigate a series of horrific crimes in her small town, which have begun to feel “eerily personal” for the cop.
Speaking to PinkNews and other media, Murphy said: “I had a general meeting with Travis. He liked my work and said he was interested in getting into acting… I was just kind of giving him some fatherly advice.
“I always have a motto in my world and in my work: that a star is a star is a star. It doesn’t matter what field you’re a star in, if you have that charisma, you are going to bring it to whatever you do.”
Murphy told Kelce that he would keep him in mind for future projects, only to get the reply: “No, I want to do it now. I have three months, and I really would love to have anything.”
At the time, Grotesquerie was just going into production. “I said: ‘Well, I have this one part and if you’re interested I will specifically write it and tailor it for you’. He said, ‘I would love that’. So, we were off to the races.”
Murphy went on to say that he and Betts “instantly loved him”, adding: “We took him by the hand and let him know that he could not fail. He really was amazing.
“He worked with an acting coach for several months. He showed up, he knew everybody’s lines. He was so professional, so committed.
“He kept saying to me: ‘I’m real coachable, coach me’. So I did, and he ended up being a delight.”
Murphy topped off his praise by saying that he hopes to work with Kelce again in the near future. Considering he has form for recruiting the same collection of stars across his projects – Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, to name just three – it’s likely Kelce (and Swift) fans will be seeing much more of him on their screens.
“I would love to continue working with him on this and other things. I cannot say enough about him as a leader. He’s just the kindest, sweetest… everything you think about him is true,” Murphy added.
In addition to Grotesquerie, Murphy is also promoting his controversial new Monsters series The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, his American Sports Story about former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez, who is now serving a life sentence for murder, and his upcoming medical drama Doctor Odyssey, which stars former Dawson’s Creek favourite Joshua Jackson.
Grotesquerie will be available to watch on Wednesday (25 September) on FX in the US, and available to stream the next day on Hulu. It will be released on Disney+ in the near future.
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