• Hallmark Channel’s Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story blends football and rom-coms, featuring an ensemble cast for a heartwarming family story.
• The cast bonded joyously while filming in Kansas City, with a real-life connection between Price and Bader adding to the family dynamic.
• Holiday Touchdown offers unity, comfort, and a rare shared viewing experience, making it a perfect holiday film for all ages.

This holiday season, Hallmark Channel is giving fans something truly special to celebrate. Blending the excitement of football with the charm of a romantic comedy, Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story

RelatedWith a similar premise to ‘Finding Magic Mike,’ this Hallmark series brings wholesome fun, holiday cheer, and, of course, hot men.

is the ultimate stocking stuffer, loosely inspired by the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce love story. While the film centers on the heartwarming meet-cute between a passionate Chiefs fan and the team’s director of fan engagement, its true magic lies in its unforgettable story of love, family, and community. It’s the perfect holiday treat for anyone who believes in the power of connection.

Holiday Touchdown boasts an all-star ensemble of seasoned actors with storied off-screen histories that made them ease into becoming the perfect on-screen family. Megyn Price, Diedrich Bader, and Ed Begley Jr. showcase the importance of family in this soon-to-be classic holiday hit. Price and Bader play Leah and Hank Higman, die-hard Chiefs fans, whereas Begley Jr. plays Hank, a widower who was a first-generation Kansas City Chiefs ticket holder. Their chemistry was immeasurable throughout the entire interview. If the joy they brought to our brief sitdown was anything like filming Holiday Touchdown, it sounds like it was an experience they’ll never forget. As Bader said, “It was a really positive experience for, I think, all of us.”

Filming ‘Holiday Touchdown’ Was Joyous

Image via Hallmark Channel

For Begley Jr., Price, and Bader, working on Holiday Touchdown can simply be summed up in one word: joyous. For this cast, it was a reunion of old friends. Begley Jr. said it was “Joyous for me to be there with John Putch again. He’s an old friend, the director. John is a dear friend of mine. I’ve worked with him before. That was great. And to be with Dietrich and Megan. I love these two very much. We’ve been closed for quite a while. It’s just a dream come true.”

As Price said about the film, “It’s a story family told through the lens of fans. It’s really about the fans. The Kansas City Chiefs is our team. Dietrich and my character met when our families had season tickets next to each other. So we’re sort of the example of the Hallmark love story, and then our daughter is the star of this movie, which is her Hallmark Christmas love story. And there’s a lot of magic. There’s Ed’s magical Santa hat from generations ago. There’s an actual magical Santa that’s in it, played by Abraham Benrubi, who is fantastic.”

Bader followed up by saying, “It’s nice because Hallmark has made it a multi-generational story. It’s fans of all ages. And as Megan was saying earlier, fans are a family when you’re all together, and everybody’s rooting together. It makes for a family.” As a child of former New York Giants season ticket holders, I’ve heard my parents share stories about the family that comes together when fans unite to cheer on their favorite team. Bader pointed out, “One of the things about season tickets is you see the same people all the time, and you probably see them more than some members of your family. Ultimately, it becomes, absolutely, you’re sharing it. You have a common love.“

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Filming on location in Kansas City allowed Bader, Begley Jr., and Price to bond as they had immense fun filming this movie together. Even forming their own movie family. “We were together between shots. Normally, people go back to their rooms and check their email, but we would hang around and talk and visit, and it was just joyous every day,” Begley Jr. said. Having a history of working with one another in the past helped make the Higman family come to life. As Price pointed out, “We didn’t really have to manufacture anything because we’ve all known each other for so long.” Price pointed out the full-circle connection that first brought her together with her TV movie husband. She said, “My first job in television was on Diedrich’s show, The Drew Carey Show.” The pair then spent a moment reminiscing about how Price’s character rejected Bader’s character on screen. And, are you ready for the connection between Begley Jr. and Price? Begley revealed, “My daughter is her daughter’s babysitter.”

Bader noted just how hospitable the city and the fans were to them during their time in Kansas City. “Kansas City opened like a flower to us,” he said. The welcoming atmosphere was a major part of why this was such an enjoyable experience for the cast. Megyn Price noted, “If you can imagine, a woman in Independence, Missouri, literally opened up her home to us and allowed us to wait for shots in her home. Moved her couch out of the way, and we’d be like, ‘Are you sure it’s okay?’ She’s like, ‘What do you do? You want? Some water? You want? She had snacks. Who does that?’

The Cast Is Filled With Swifties

With the Kansas City Chiefs being a major part of this film, they have now adopted the reigning Super Bowl champions as their own. Having a chance to work with the players allowed them to have close contact with the amazing franchise. Price noted, “It was too special. It was too incredible. And getting to meet the players? Look, the NFL feels so untouchable and over there. Meeting these guys, they’re so close, so normal, and they’re babies.” Begley Jr. also noted just how funny they are. As Bader joked, “It almost got me excited to work. I was close.”

Throughout this interview, the stars of the film dropped some incredible secrets of the past. First, it was the connection of how this was not the first time Bader had shared a screen with everyone’s favorite football mom, Donna Kelce. He revealed, “I didn’t realize that she and I had worked together before, many years in Cleveland, Ohio. We did ‘Cleveland Rocks’ on The Drew Carey Show. She and her little boys were extras, or atmosphere, however you want to say, in that shoot. And I was like, ‘God, I hope I was nice to you.’ And she goes, ‘Oh, no, you were so nice.’ Time to go back and watch the opening sequence to see if we can spot Travis and Jason Kelce in the background of the theme song!

With the real-life romance of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift being the talk of the world, certainly someone in this cast had to be a Swiftie. Like the brilliant comedian he is, Bader joked that he didn’t know who she was. Megyn Price said, “I can’t really talk about it without crying, so I’ll just say every morning on my Peloton, I make sure that I choose whatever class has all Taylor Swift music. That’s all I’m going to say.” Now what may come as a shock to many is Begley Jr. is a huge Swiftie. “I love Taylor Swift. I’m a big fan. Evermore is one of my favorite albums of all time. She’s brilliant,” he said. But he shocked his co-stars when he simply stuck in that she played his daughter in the film Amsterdam. Way to bury the lead Ed! If it wasn’t so early in the morning, we might have convinced him to text her right then and there! As Begley Jr. said about the superstar pop singer, “She’s very good at Words with Friends.”

The Cast Has Fond Memories of Christmas

Image via Hallmark Channel

The chemistry between this trio was simply brilliant. When asked about having any superstitions, as their characters had in the film, Begley Jr. said he was wearing his lucky underwear, Price said she was wearing none, and Bader admitted he was wearing Ed’s underwear. Only seasoned pros can riff off of one another that quickly with such wit. In the film, the Higmans host a Christmas Eve Eve Eve where everyone brings a special sweet treat. Price revealed exactly what she would bring over to celebrate the season. “I’m bringing the greatest pumpkin pie that I make, which is made from sugar pumpkins. You buy actual pumpkins, and you roast them each. It’s a recipe that Betty White did with Martha Stewart. Oh, but if I make it for Christmas, everybody is so full that they don’t really appreciate the pumpkin pie, so I would bring it to Christmas Eve Eve Eve because then it would be, it would be actually appreciated,” she shared.

For a movie circling family and making memories together, we discussed some of their favorite holiday memories. For Price, she shared an emotional story about her favorite Christmas. “My favorite one was when I was 8 years old, and I wanted a Barbie Dream House. It was this A-frame amazing Barbie Dream House. We didn’t have a lot of money, and I knew for sure I was not getting the Barbie Dream House. So my parents were like, ‘Honey, that’s not really a realistic thing.’ And so we woke up Christmas morning, and we were in our onesie pajamas, waiting for my dad to go light the Christmas tree. We came in, and there was a Barbie Dream House,” she said tearing up. “Oh, but you don’t understand. It was such a big deal. My brother and sister were so happy for me that they didn’t even look at their own presents.” It was a lovely story in which Bader comforted her as Begley Jr. joked that he didn’t know she had feelings.

For his holiday memory, Begley Jr. told the story about a gift his father gave him. “I was very handy for the kid. My dad got me an Erector Set. And not just any Erector Set, the kind of top-of-the-line one. Page one you could build a little car that you push like this, but back in the instruction book, the thing that came with it, you could make an elevator. I did that right away. I went right to the back and made that. My dad was very impressed with me. The best gift I ever got,” he said. His co-stars knew it was the perfect gift for him.

Hallmark Became a Family for the Cast

Hallmark fans love their Hallmark holiday hits. So, what’s it like to be a part of the Hallmark holiday family? Price said, “All encompassing. They’re so loving. It’s so different from the business like it doesn’t feel so much business.” Bader followed up with, “I didn’t know that Hallmark was a privately owned company until the owner passed away recently, and I was reading his obit in the New York Times. It feels like that because it feels like it’s run by a family. They welcome you into their house and their home. And I’ve never felt so welcomed by a production or a production company in my entire career.” He revealed that he had some tragedies that hit him during the shooting of the film and noted how open and generous they were to him.

He continued, “Rather than just thinking about production and how do we keep things online. They were like, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss,’ and they genuinely meant it. When your heart is open like that, it’s open from love, but it’s also open from pain. You’re aware of people’s disingenuousness, and it feels poisonous at that exact second, but they genuinely meant it. I will literally never forget that. If I ever get a call again from Hallmark, I’m 100% going to do it.“

Price said, “I think there’s a clarity to Hallmark, too, that’s very different from other networks. They have a singleness of purpose, and it makes it easy for all of their execs and all the people that work for them to know what direction we’re going in because it’s always the same. We know we’re all clear. We’re not trying to satisfy whatever corporation is above this or that, or this boss or that boss. It’s like, there’s one through line.” It was a positive experience for all involved.

So why do we need Holiday Touchdown now? Begley Jr. responded, “We need unity now more than ever,” while Bader took it a step further: “We also need comfort food, and this is comfort food that’s delicious.” Price finished by saying, “There’s so much streaming, and there’s so many different options out there. Kids are watching one thing, parents are watching one thing. This is something everybody can come together and watch together, and we have the same experience. And I think that’s that’s rare now.”

Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story is airing on the Hallmark Channel as part of the network’s 15th annual Countdown to Christmas. Stream on Hallmark

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Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story