The world has been entranced with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's relationship ever since she was seen sitting in a box seat at the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri last year to watch him play football.
The rest is history. The pop star and Chiefs' tight end gallivanted around the world together, and Kelce ended up joining his girlfriend on stage performing at the London Eras Tour date earlier this summer. Their love has even inspired the Hallmark Christmas movie, "Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story." In the movie, Alana (Hunter King) is the third generation in a family of Chiefs superfans, who believe that a special knit hat they own has the power to get the team to the Super Bowl. In turn, they're convinced that the Chiefs have also brought them love. As they family is in the running to win the Fan of the Year contest, Alana falls in love with Derrick (Tyler Hynes), a man who works for the Chiefs and helps determine the winner of the competition.
I spoke to the stars of "Holiday Touchdown" at New York's Park Lane Hotel, which was already decorated for Christmas. During our interview, King and Hynes raved about how people like Swift and teams like the Chiefs bring such unity and togetherness.
"When I went to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, I just would look around and see everybody experiencing the same thing at the same moment, and everyone was impacted emotionally in a different way," said King about attending the tour in Missouri.
Like Taylor Swift, "Holiday Touchdown" shows how the Chiefs, the spirit of Christmas and a little healthy competition can bring people together. Travis' own mother Donna Kelce even shows up to make a cameo in the film. Oh, and a Chiefs superfan who happens to be a cat also joins in on the fun.
Check out Salon's interview with the stars, who discuss their current Swift era and what it was like meeting Donna Kelce . . . and the scene stealer known as Catrick Mahomes.
The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
While this story isn’t about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, their romance was likely an inspiration for it. What can you say about the impact of that couple becoming such a cultural phenomenon?
Tyler Hynes: It feels like everybody's rooting for them. That's such a lovely thing, when you have such a universal thing that people are getting behind. There are rare moments like that it seems as of late. [To] have everybody be rooting for them. It feels like a similar feeling, if you're talking about inspiration to the movie. It's kind of what's happening in the movie. Everybody's rooting for her character to get what she wants, to find love, and to really find and reaffirm her faith in this team and this tradition and family and all those wonderful things. While it's not a Taylor and Travis' story, there's obviously an inspiration from their love, as so many other things are.
Hunter King: It truly does feel like everyone is rooting for them. You feel that in this film as well, whether it's everyone collectively rooting for the Chiefs, rooting for us, rooting for Alana – you definitely feel that kind of love. I think that the Chiefs have bottled up that love that they have for each other, and it's just like lightning in a bottle, and everyone wants a little piece of it, wants to learn from it.
Hynes: When you see their huddles, like pregame stuff it just hypes you up, and you're just like, "Yeah, that's a real family."
Alana’s family is closely associated with the Kansas City Chiefs, to the point that there’s even a legend associated with the team and their relationships. Are there any stories that each of your families have handed down that have taken on a life of their own?
Hynes: There's a thing in Nova Scotia, Canada, where my grandparents are from, and it's a food item. It's called rappie pie, and it looks like prison food. It looks pretty unpleasant. Maybe prison food is delicious. I've never been in person, so what can I say? Doesn't look good. It looks like somebody ate the food and then gave it back to the plate, and then you're eating it again.
But it's like mashed potatoes with the starch that has been taken out. So it's like a clear jelly, and it's chicken, and you put butter and salt and pepper, and it's incredible. There isn't a person in the world who doesn't eat this thing. It's just like, "Oh my god, this is delicious." The most comfort food. They've passed that on. Nobody knows what rappie pie is, except for maybe a small population. My parents have brought that into our lives. Every Christmas, people fight over it, not friendly. They love it.
King: My favorite thing is when my grandma gets a little bit tipsy, and then she'll share family secrets with me from way back in the day when she was a kid or about her grandparents. I'm gonna hold those near and dear to my heart, and she's sworn me to secrecy. But it is the best when she gets a little drunk. Tell me all the gossip.
Hynes: Naughty inside!
King: Oh yeah! *mimicking her grandma's voice* This person got in trouble! Never believe Uncle Timmy, like all that. Now I just know so much. I don't know half the people but I know what they did.
King: I think it just brings people together and to experience something collectively as a whole. I know right now we're talking about sports, but even when I went to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. I just would look around and see everybody experiencing the same thing at the same moment, and everyone was impacted emotionally in a different way. It just brought me to tears thinking how everyone was different in this moment and experiencing such joy altogether. That's what sports do for a lot of people, is they just bring everybody from different walks of life together to root for one thing, and people that maybe you would not have met before, and it's just such a special thing and such a bonding experience. People get to do [it] with your friends and your family. It creates a lot of tradition.
Hynes: I keep watching sports documentaries lately. I've been going on a run like I watched the Boston Red Sox beat the [Curse of the Bambino]. I get emotional watching these sports documentaries I'm finding. It's this underdog putting it all on the line, and just everything culminating to a moment and how precise and precious or fleeting that thing is. It's a really interesting thing that our culture, just being witness to, finds that same feeling that they feel doing it. That's a really fascinating, connective thing that our culture all engages in.
It's crazy that we have as much sports as we do. We have so many different facets of it. A lot of them are so elaborate. They're constantly evolving. It's fascinating. Now finding football for myself and looking into it more closely, how it all works and this team, it's a well that keeps filling. Even if it's an enemy on a different team, there's still a camaraderie there. Like our writer Julie Sherman Wolfe is a 49ers fan. Despite the fact that she hates my guts, doesn't mean we don't love each other.
Another large part of this movie is superstitions. Superstitions are incredibly important in sports, not just with Alana’s family. What sort of superstitions do you have, if any?
King: I don't have a sports superstition. Although during these interviews, I realized I maybe should adopt [one], but we are working like a collaborative superstition as a team, team being me and Tyler. But mine is just simple: if I see the clock and it says 11:11, and I don't make a wish, I'm just scared of what's to come like the universe will punish me. So I have to make a wish at 11:11 if I see it.
Hynes: She takes it to a dark place. It's supposed to be a positive right?
King: Well it is a superstition! I want something amazing to happen or even neutral. But you just can't miss it.
Hynes: I've never been like a superstitious person. I'm a skateboarder. We risk our body parts when we do certain things.You know what? I may have just discovered my only superstition. When I'm skateboarding, whenever I would start thinking of the worst case scenario like if there's a rail going downstairs, like, "Oh, if I don't do that, then I'm gonna end up there, and my children will never be born." Those kinds of things. Yeah, I would go, "I have to do it now." I would force myself to do it.
King: That's kind of a good superstition.
Hynes: It was like if I didn't do it, then you would never do it. There would be repercussions of some kind, so I'll force myself. That has become a superstition.
Tying this back to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, his mother Donna Kelce also makes a cameo in the movie. What was it like on set when she was there? She also appears this season on the other Hallmark movie “Christmas on Call.”
Hynes: We don't talk about that Christmas movie!
King: She was very popular. It was like being with the cool girl at school. Everyone wanted to talk to her. Everyone wanted to see her, see what she was wearing and see what she was doing. But then it's as if the cool girl was also the nicest person you've ever met, which makes it even better. So she was the popular cool girl – popular, cool, nice girl on set, and we couldn't get enough of her.
Hynes: It's true.
King: We love Donna.
Of course, there were Chiefs stars there, including players Trey Smith and Trent Green, and Chiefs coach Andy Reid, not to mention the KC Wolf (with the googly eyes). What was it like working with each and experiencing the love of football with them too?
Hynes: [Trent] was like a legend of a man and he was so personable and was a good actor. Handsome, might I say! It was a unique experience having them all there. It was really wholesome. Everybody had such fun doing it. It didn't seem like people were getting nervous about things. Certainly, watching me perform makes everybody feel comforted knowing that the bar is down there.
King: Oh, stop it.
Hynes: Trent — remember how funny he was?
King: Yeah, he was phenomenal. It was the whole thing. He was great. Everyone was great. Everyone lived up to the expectations and more. It seemed like they had all done it many, many times before.
Hynes: Trey had his lines like an hour before he was acting.
King: He was off-book, ready to go!
King: Oh yeah.
Hynes: There were tons, too many selfies.
King: I love that cat. He was so huge. He was so chill.
Hynes: Aloof.
King: He was very, very cute, and he was just so chili, just out there the whole time. I think he got up once, and everyone's like, "Oh wait, where's he going?" He's the real star of the show.
Hynes: He covered a lot of ground too. There was a large surface area that he took up!
He's pretty big?
Hynes: Big boy!
King: Do you remember how much he weighs?
Hynes: No! It was a lot.
Did y'all lift him?
Hynes: There was a moment I tried to lift him . . . Catrick, lay off the Häagen-Dazs.
Are either of you Swifties? I know Hunter you mentioned Era's Tour. What date did you go to?
King: I went to the Kansas City Tour. My sister [actress Joey King] was in her music video and she got to come out on stage. They showed the music video, and [Joey] introduced her on stage. It was incredible. I've been a Swiftie for a very long time, but that was just, I've never been more proud in my life watching my sister up there in front of this crowd full of thousands of people like 60,000 at Arrowhead. Big Taylor Swift fan over here!
Was that before or after you filmed this movie?
King: Before! A year and almost a day.
Did it feel like crazy being back at Arrowhead Stadium?
King: Oh, yes, crazy. Then seeing it with an immense amount of her fans, and then when we got to film the scene where the drone shot pulls back, and it's just us in the stands. Seeing it completely empty was just wild. Then going later for the first opening day game, and then seeing it full of Chiefs fans. It was just seeing it in all different capacities was amazing.
Hynes: My [Swiftie] application is still pending. I wouldn't be so brave but I've watched a few documentaries as I do about everything. I love documentaries. There are three films I shot prior to shooting this movie. There's a young woman named Chloe who played my daughter in these films, and she is a huge Taylor Swift fan. I wore a Swiftie-style bracelet in the movie for her. She gave me a grocery list of songs I should listen to.
There's a few songs that I had already loved. I watched a documentary about her and I really started to understand. Again, it's wild because there are similarities between her, the Chiefs and Hallmark. There's an authenticity and an attention to detail that is shared by few. I understood why there is such a deep connection with this person who is turning out such an abundance of music and has such a legacy that she's leaving. It's this thoughtfulness that seems to be the connective tissue between Hallmark, Chiefs and Taylor. I saw that and watched the documentary . . . but I can't sing all the lyrics.
King: But you're in a "Lavender Haze."
If you had to pick a Taylor Swift album that represents the era that you're in right now, what would it be?
King: I don't know! There's just too many. I love "Midnights" and "The Tortured Poets Department."
Hynes: Which one was the one that had "Trouble" on it?
King: "Red." "Red" was a great album. "1989" was great. We could go on. I don't have a favorite. I love them all for different reasons.
Hynes: I got into "Red" and "1989" in Europe. I got in those discographies.
King: I have some more for you!
Who are the bigger fans: football fans or Swifties?
Hynes: That's tough.
King: Oh, that's really tough. It might be a tie.
Hynes: You can't give it a tie. You got to draw a line in the sand. No one wants that. Viewers are going to be like, "No!" I'm gonna say Swifties.
You heard it here first!
King: International pop star!
Hynes: If you come for Taylor, they come for you! Somebody comes for football, you might walk away.
King: We protect our queen!
"Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story" premieres Saturday, Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel.
