Lisa Gutierrez | (TNS) The Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Here’s a brief synopsis of a new Lifetime Christmas movie coming in November.
A mega pop star who can’t find love, but is always singing about relationships, meets a professional football player who publicly declares he has a crush on her.
The two begin a romance in the challenging, white-hot limelight of celebrity.
Now where, oh where, have we heard and seen this story before?
Taylor Swift and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce are not named as the official inspiration for Lifetime’s “Christmas in the Spotlight,” but the similarities between fact and fiction here couldn’t be any clearer.
And, topping it off like whipped cream on the cocoa, the actor playing the role of Kelce played briefly in the NFL.
The new romantic-comedy is part of “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime,” the network’s lineup of holiday movies that debuts Nov. 16. This year Lifetime will air 12 new movies every Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 25.
It’s going to be a very merry Swift Christmas with two TV movies inspired by the hottest couple of the moment.
The Hallmark Channel came to Kansas City over the summer to film “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,” which will be released Nov. 30. The movie stars Tyler Hynes, Hunter King and Ed Begley Jr., with cameos by Chiefs players, head coach Andy Reid and Kelce’s mother, Donna Kelce.
The movie will be shown during Hallmark’s annual “Countdown to Christmas” which begins Friday.
Hallmark has shared a trailer for its movie; Lifetime has not teased its flick.
But Lifetime has announced Jessica Lord and Laith Wallschleger as the leads.
Lord plays superstar Bowyn, who meets Wallschleger’s character, Drew, after one of her concerts. Their budding relationship is tested by their conflicting schedules and outsiders who squawk that the relationship is nothing more than a publicity stunt.
(Yup. Heard that before, too.)
They have “until the end of the holiday season to decide if they want to stay together, or let it go down in flames,” according to Lifetime.
Wallschleger should be comfortable in cleats. According to IMDB, he played football for the University of Delaware and, briefly, for the Arizona Cardinals before getting into acting. In FX’s “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,” he portrays retired NFL player Rob Gronkowski.
When Lord promoted the movie on Instagram last month, she tagged Swift and Kelce in her post.
“Hands down one of the most fun roles I’ve had the honor to bring to life,” she wrote. “This was a total dream and I cannot wait for you to meet Bowyn!”
Emmy Award-winning talk show host and producer Jeannie Mai plays Bowyn’s manager; TikTok influencer Haley Kalil, in her TV debut, plays Drew’s sister-in-law.
“Christmas in the Spotlight” premieres Nov. 23.
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