‘Grotesquerie’ creator shares backstory on how & why he hired Chiefs’ Travis Kelce

After the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII, tight end Travis Kelce and girlfriend Taylor Swift spent time together at her Los Angeles mansion . But it wasn’t downtime.

Rather than sit back and relax after another championship season, Kelce met with people in Hollywood, including six-time Emmy Award winning writer and director Ryan Murphy.

Roughly seven months later, Murphy’s FX horror/drama “Grotesquerie” is set to debut Wednesday on FX.

Murphy told Variety that his first meeting with Kelce was about the Chiefs star’s future. As they were set to part ways, Murphy said he would consider Kelce for a future project.

But Kelce was eager to get to work sooner rather than later. Pre-production had started on “Grotesquerie,” and the Variety story said that Murphy told Kelce: “I have this one part, and if you’re interested I will specifically write it and tailor it for you.”

Kelce was interested.

Murphy told Deadline that he directed the first episode with actress Niecy Nash-Betts, who is the show’s headliner and a co-producer, and they both were enamored with Kelce.

While away from football, Kelce showed his commitment to acting.

“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 said in the Deadline story. “ He really was amazing. He worked with an acting coach for several months. He showed up off book. He 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, and 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.”

While on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards, Nash-Betts said viewers will set Kelce “quite a bit” in the 10-episode series, People magazine reported.

“I think the audience is really gonna love him in the series. He did such a good job,” she told People.

Taylor Swift’s support

The red carpet event for “Grotesquerie” on Monday night was actually a purple carpet. While there, Murphy was asked by E News about Kelce’s girlfriend, superstar singer Taylor Swift.

“The only thing that (Travis and I) talked about was that she’s very supportive of him, and if he has an interest, she wanted him to try it,” Murphy said. “I was thrilled about that.”

Kelce wasn’t at the event in New York on Monday, but his mother, Donna, was and she was interviewed by TV Line .