- Travis Kelce made his debut on Ryan Murphy’s new show “Grotesquerie” on Wednesday.
- The NFL star hasn’t acted before, and details about his character were kept under wraps.
- Here’s what to know about who Kelce is playing and how he got cast.
Travis Kelce finally made his much-anticipated acting debut on the FX show “Grotesquerie,” and his character is a weird one — which is really saying something in a show that also prominently features a masochistic hot priest and a true crime-obsessed nun-journalist engaging in a bizarre sexual game of cat and mouse.
“Grotesquerie,” a horror drama from “American Horror Story” creator Ryan Murphy, follows detective Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts) as she investigates a series of murders in a small community with help from Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), the aforementioned nun-journalist and true-crime fanatic.
In the third episode of “Grotesquerie,” which aired Wednesday, October 2, Kelce appears as Eddie Laclan, a hot and friendly hospital employee. Eddie seems to be a nurse or orderly at the hospital where Lois’ comatose husband, Marshall (Courtney B. Vance), is housed.
Ed introduces himself to Lois after she has a tough day contending with the domineering, obsessive Nurse Redd (Lesley Manville), who’s attempting to take power of attorney over Marshall away from Lois. The two share flirty banter, and Kelce has an easy chemistry with Nash-Betts.
They meet again after Lois gets into a car accident and ends up in the hospital herself. Ed, who Lois nicknames Fast Eddie, helps her bust out of the hospital and they ride off in a red convertible.
It’s not entirely clear if Eddie’s nice-guy energy is just a facade — there’s a lingering shot of him staring after Lois that seems a bit suspicious — and his motivations become a bit murkier in episode four, which also aired on Wednesday. In it, he accompanies Lois, who’s an alcoholic, to an AA meeting and then to a bar where she has a martini. While there, he tells her about how he overcame his own addiction and about his past as a former skier turned male stripper in Alaska.
Later, when Lois impulsively enlists him to act as a bodyguard for her daughter Merritt (Raven Goodwin) amid Lois’ ongoing investigation into the serial killer dubbed Grotesquerie, Merritt questions his motivations. She wonders if Eddie and her mother are having an affair and if Eddie is supposed to spy on her and report back to Lois. Never mind the fact that Eddie, a virtual stranger, apparently agreed to take off work for “a few days” to watch the daughter of a woman he just met.
Travis Kelce’s tenacity convinced Ryan Murphy to cast him on ‘Grotesquerie’
He may be a football player — and also famously Taylor Swift’s boyfriend — but Kelce’s lack of acting experience was no big deal to Murphy when he cast him in “Grotesquerie.”
The Kansas City Chiefs player has been open about his ambitions to become a star. He signed to the powerful Hollywood agency CAA in 2023, and his managers have proclaimed they hope to make him as famous as The Rock. That led to him getting in the room for a general meeting with Murphy to discuss a potential acting career.
Speaking to reporters at a September 23 press conference attended by Business Insider ahead of the “Grotesquerie” premiere, Murphy said he was already intrigued by what he’d seen of Kelce.
“I always have a motto in my world and in my work that a star is a star is a star,” Murphy explained. “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.”
In their meeting, Murphy gave Kelce some “fatherly advice” about breaking into the business, expecting their conversation to end with him assuring Kelce he’d keep him in mind for future projects. But Kelce was adamant about landing a role as soon as possible, while he was on a break from football and would be able to film.
“He said, ‘No, I want to do it now. I have three months now, and I really would love to have anything,'” Murphy recalled.
Murphy had just started on pre-production on “Grotesquerie,” and he offered to tailor a part in the show specifically around Kelce. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end was more than game.
FX
Murphy also gave some insight into Kelce’s acting process and how Nash-Betts felt about working with him.
“Niecy and I just instantly loved him and took him by the hand and let him know that he would not, could not fail,” Murphy recalled. “And he really was amazing.”
According to Murphy, Kelce spent months working with an acting coach, showed up to set off-book, and knew everybody’s lines.
“He was so professional. He was so committed. He kept saying to me, I’m real coachable. Coach me, coach me. So I did. And he ended up being a delight,” he added.
The prolific TV producer, who also is the co-showrunner of Netflix’s latest true crime drama “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” had nothing but positive things to say about his experience working with Kelce. In fact, he was more than ready to work with him again.
“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,” Murphy said. “Everything you think about him is true.”
“Grotesquerie” airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX and streams the next day on Hulu.
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