Taylor and Travis Hallmark Movie: The Stars Chat About the Chiefs-Themed Holiday Film

You may have heard of the new “Taylor and Travis” Hallmark movie, which many have described as being inspired by Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's romance. But even the stars of Holiday Touchdown admit that as romantic as their film is, it can’t hold a candle to the team’s most famous lovebirds.

“You can't touch that story,” says Hunter King, who stars in the film as a Chiefs-obsessed small business owner named Avery. “It's too perfect. We're all rooting for them so much. It's almost like its own movie. We're watching it play out in real time.”

But even though the film—which premieres on November 30—isn’t a retelling of Traylor’s romance, it still is pretty adorable and unique. A first of its kind collaboration between the Chiefs and Hallmark Channel, which are both based in Kansas City, the film tells the story of Avery, a Chiefs superfan whose love of the team spans generations. When her family decides to try to win the team’s “Fan of the Year” contest, they come under evaluation by Derrick (Tyler Hynes), who is the team’s director of fan engagement. Predictably, sparks fly.

Despite the fact that he’s not actually playing Kelce, Hynes still took a bit of inspiration from KillaTrav. Particularly, his singing of Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” at the Super Bowl victory parade earlier this year, which Hynes got to attend.

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“He was up on stage and he sang that song and I loved every second of it,” he says. “Throughout the whole movie, I played that song every day on the way to work and I still sing the lyrics.”

Kelce himself doesn’t appear in the film, but several other Chiefs players do. And there’s a special cameo from another Kelce: Travis’ mom (and 2024 Glamour Woman of the Year) Donna, who King and Hynes agree is a star in the making. King says they think she should be the star in the hopefully inevitable Holiday Touchdown sequel.

“We hope Donna is ready for that. We got to make some phone calls,” she says.

King and Hynes chatted with Glamour about how they became huge Chiefs fans during the film, what it’s like filming in a football stadium in beanies in the middle of summer (not great), and more about their vision for that sequel to their “Taylor and Travis” Hallmark movie.

Glamour: As shown in the film, the Chiefs have a devoted fan base. What familiarity did you guys have with the team before you signed on?

Tyler Hynes: None. I am a Canadian raised by beavers who was a skateboarder, so organized sports was not my thing…but I went to the stadium, I went to the town, and met a lot of the staff. Everybody was so lovely. It felt very kind, similar to the feeling that you see at the Hallmark headquarters, which is also in Kansas City…It feels like a second home now at this point because I've been back to it three or four times. If Canada and America were to have a child, that's Kansas City.

Hunter King: I was an NFL fan. This is my first year having my own fantasy football team, so I now am the proud owner of a fake football team. My fiance got me into it. I can't say that I was a Chiefs fan before the movie. I didn't really have a team. My fiance is a big Raiders fan.

But now after filming this movie and meeting so many people that are both on and off the field with the Chiefs and getting to film at Arrowhead, I am definitely a Chiefs fan now…On the Black Friday they're playing the Raiders and I was like [to my fiance], I'm so sorry. I’ll be rooting for the Chiefs. It's a house divided.

What made you fall in love with the team?

HK: Whether or not you are a Chiefs fan, you got to hand it to them. I mean they somehow, every game but one this season, they pull off a win. It's so exciting to watch whether or not you're a fan.

TH: They reflect their city somehow. Even though they have players from all over. There's an underdog mentality, there's a rawness. It's not polished, it's not clinical…this really honest, earnest, hardworking, fun kind of goofy team that somehow makes it happen every time.

I feel like this is like when they say new converts to a religion are the most pious. You guys are the most hardcore fans now.

HK: We can bring new people in. You put us on the sidewalk and we're poster children for the Chiefs. Come on in. We'll tell you what you need to know about the Chiefs and why you should also love them.

Unlike most fans though, you guys have gotten to meet a lot of the team. The film even features cameos from head coach Andy Reid and players Mecole Hardman (fiance of Chariah Gordon), Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and George Karlaftis. And Donna Kelce even makes her acting debut in the film. What was it like to meet her?

HK: I was just so excited to meet her and she couldn't be nicer. She was just so lovely, so funny. She played the perfect character. She was wonderful.

Your characters aren’t playing a fictionalized version of Travis and Taylor, but a lot of press around the film has mentioned them for obvious reasons. Have you been embraced by the Swifties?

TH: I'm a new Swiftie. I've been doing my darnedest to drop Taylor Swift song titles in these interviews and succeeded pretty well…I wouldn't say that they've embraced me. I feel like my application to be a Swiftie is still pending.

HK: We'll accept you. I myself am a Swiftie.

A lot of the conversations around Taylor’s WAG era have been about this new confluence of NFL and Swiftie fandom. Do you think the film may draw in some football fans who may not normally watch a Hallmark movie?

TH: I think folks are going to wander in and get bit with the sort of bug of what these Hallmark movies can do and what the Chiefs are. That's what I think is lovely. If it works, there's going to be some facet of all these different cultural landmarks that are going to maybe wander into this one thing and all find each other. And there might be a really beautiful meeting of a lot of different cultures in one spot over Christmas, which doesn't get more Hallmark than that.

HK: There's a crazy crossover between people who watch NFL or sports in general and people who watch Hallmark movies. I think it's almost 50%. So I feel like it's a lot more than we thought or that we knew. And like you've said before, our friend Jonathan Bennett, he says that there are two kinds of people in this world, people who love and watch Hallmark movies and liars. So you can't say that you don't like a good Hallmark Christmas movie, and if you say that you are in fact a real life Grinch.

This film takes place during the holiday season, obviously, but you filmed on location at Arrowhead Stadium over the summer. That sounds…hot?

HK: It was the hottest day of the year. We had a thousand Chiefs fans and Hallmark fans that came out to be background actors and not only is it really hot, but it's that wet, humid hot where it feels like you're breathing in jacuzzi water…That's kind of one of the fun things that you navigate when you're filming a Hallmark Christmas movie. You very quickly forget about the feeling of being hot. It's kind of a funny story later to be like, oh my God, did you smell me that day? I smelled disgusting.

TH: I have a skin problem that won't go away. That's probably because of that.

HK: Probably heat rash. Permanent heat rash.

TH: Yeah. I went to a doctor…they explained to me that my histamines are overreacting.

HK: Yeah, that's me too. Maybe it's from this!

TH: 400 interviews about this fact that neither of us have confessed. Wow. We're both living with diseases.

Wow, the things you're willing to do for your art are truly admirable. Totally worth it though, the film’s got a ton of buzz. If there’s a sequel, what’s your vision?

HK: Tyler has said before the sequel would be Holiday Touchdown: A Donna Kelce Love Story. So we hope Donna is ready for that. Our love has inspired her…

TH: Yeah, we become like friends, confidants. We start setting her up on dates. Things go awry around the holiday season. And then Patrick Mahomes and their backup quarterback go down in the final game of the Super Bowl. They have to tap in Donna Kelce. She throws the game winning touchdown to her son.

Taylor Swift floats down from above. That's like a Christmas angel singing. A brand new Taylor Swift Christmas song that's going to blow the charts out. Oh, have I just written this movie?

From your mouth to God's ears. That's incredible.

HK: We’ve got to get to writing.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Don’t have the Hallmark Channel? You can stream the film on Hallmark +.