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Adam Sandler has announced that NFL star Travis Kelce will appear in the upcoming sequel to the beloved classic Happy Gilmore.
Netflix confirmed in May that Sandler, 57, will reprise his role as Gilmore, an ice hockey player with anger management issues who realizes he can channel that anger towards major pro golf wins, in a follow-up to the hit 1996 comedy.
During an appearance on last night’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Sandler was asked if he’d heard that Kelce, 34, who has risen to global stardom due to his high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift, was keen to be a part of the production.
“Yes,” replied Sandler. “He has mentioned it and so we have a nice something for Travis. He is going to come by.”
Sandler added that the footballer is a “very nice guy,” saying: “You guys would love him in real life. What a big, handsome guy. He’s a stud and he’s so funny.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Sandler confirmed that production of the sports comedy sequel will begin in a “couple [of] weeks” and that he and screenwriter Tim Herlihy, who also co-wrote the original film, are “continuing to try to make it a movie that you guys will like.”
Kelce, who is a keen golf player, previously mentioned the possibility of acting in the Happy Gilmore sequel during a May episode of his podcast New Heights. “I’m looking for movie deals,” he said. “I’ll do anything in the movie. I’ll be a part of it any way I possibly can.”
Kelce’s character in the show is being kept tightly under wraps, though he’s expected to appear in every episode of the 10-part series.
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In the trailer, Kelce makes a split-second appearance waving his hands in front of his face. Rumors of a Happy Gilmore sequel first surfaced in March when Christopher McDonald, who played Gilmore’s arrogant opponent Shooter McGavin in the first film, said Sandler had shown him a draft for the sequel.
“I saw Adam about two weeks ago, and he says to me, ‘McDonald, you’re gonna love this,’” McDonald said in a radio interview on Audacy’s 92.3 The Fan.
“I said, ‘What?’ He says, ‘How about that’, and he shows me the first draft of Happy Gilmore 2 … I thought, ‘Well, that would be awesome.’ So, it’s in the works. Fans demand it, dammit!”
The first Happy Gilmore film grossed $41 million worldwide on a production budget of $12m, and remains one of Sandler’s most popular films.
