With Travis Kelce as a producer, Iraq veteran’s film debuts to ovation, praise

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has his first billed credit as a movie executive producer. Here he walked the red carpet at Union Station for the Super Bowl LVII championship ring ceremony in June.

TAMMY LJUNGBLAD tljungblad@kcstar.com The film that gives Travis Kelce his first billed credit as a movie producer received largely positive reviews and a standing ovation at its premiere. “My Dead Friend Zoe” debuted at the SXSW Film & TV Festival over the weekend. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is one of 10 executive producers. Kelce was in Singapore with girlfriend Taylor Swift as she wrapped up a six-concert stand and did not attend the festival in Austin, Texas. The film’s director, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, a Wisconsin native who served in Iraq and co-wrote the screenplay, earned a standing ovation at the premiere Saturday. The festival will show the film again on Wednesday.

From the film’s festival synopsis: “’My Dead Friend Zoe’ is a dark comedy drama that follows the journey of Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green), a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe (Natalie Morales), her dead best friend from the Army. “Despite the persistence of her VA group counselor (Morgan Freeman), the tough love of her mother and the levity of an unexpected love interest, Merit’s cozy-dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world.

“That is until Merit’s estranged grandfather (Ed Harris) — holed up at the family’s ancestral lake house — begins to lose his way and is (in) need of the one thing he refuses … help.” The story is grounded in Hausmann-Stokes’ reality as a veteran. He dedicated the film to his own “Zoes,” close Army friends lost to suicide after they came home. Group therapy scenes in the movie involve real-life veterans. At the premiere, he explained to the festival audience how Kelce got involved. Two other producers — solar entrepreneur Mike Field and producer and former Netflix executive Ray Maiello — have a connection “to somebody on Travis’ team,” he said. “And they got the script and the short that I had made … they reviewed the material. Travis is supportive of veterans in the military, and they decided to come in and support the film. “It was so surreal. We’ve been so grateful.” Having Kelce attached to the project has attracted added attention to the movie, Hausmann-Stokes said. That comes as no surprise. The NFL star’s romance with Swift over the last few months has dominated news cycles around the world.

“And ultimately, selfishly, I want people to enjoy this film, but I want it to effect change,” Hausmann-Stokes said. “So the more eyeballs that are on this film … there’s going to be a veteran somewhere, I don’t know who they are but they’re going to see this film and it’s going to be the little nudge that convinces them to talk about it. “And I think what Travis did for us is just this tidal wave of energy and exposure, and so we’re so excited to have him.”