Courtney b. Vance talks working with travis kelce, empty nesting and more | members only

When actor Courtney B. Vance, 64, gets the opportunity to work with award-winning writer-producer Ryan Murphy, he says he jumps at the chance. Vance won an Emmy for portraying attorney

Johnnie Cochran in Murphy’s 2016 FX series _American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson_, and says, “Ryan called and said he had something for me. He’s my guy.” That “something” was a

role in Murphy’s 10-episode horror-drama series _Grotesquerie_, premiering Sept. 25 on FX. Vance stars as the husband of a detective (played by Niecy Nash-Betts) in the middle of a serial

killer manhunt, and the NFL’s Travis Kelce makes his acting debut as a recurring guest star on the show. Vance tells AARP what it was like working with Kelce, how he feels about his wife,

Angela Bassett, 66, winning her first Emmy, and why he’s looking forward to life in a newly emptied nest. _This interview has been edited for length and clarity._ WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT

THE NEW SERIES? IT SOUNDS CREEPY. Well, it’s Ryan Murphy, and he’s known for creep — that’s not surprising. It’s a combination of things. We’re a dysfunctional family that’s trying to figure

out our way. And in the midst of that, my wife, Miss Niecy, is in the midst of a very gruesome serial killer manhunt, and [the series is about] how that impacts and has been impacting our

family for years, and the repercussions of her work on both myself and our daughter. In my mind, it’s a family drama. Vance stars with Niecy Nash-Betts in the new FX crime drama,

"Grotesquerie." Prashant Gupta/ FX Network TRAVIS KELCE MAKES HIS ACTING DEBUT ON THE SHOW. WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH HIM? I love him. He’s so about getting in there and doing

the work. He’s so open and humble. The cast and the crew just adored him. He’s just a guy who’s trying to go in this new direction. And because of that, we just embraced him and helped him,

and he helped us. He added. He made our set even bigger and better and warmer, because he’s a people person. DID YOU GIVE HIM ANY ADVICE REGARDING HIS ACTING CAREER? No, just within the

scene. We had a very, very big scene [together]. With the technical aspects of that, he doesn’t know how to craft it so that it comes out right.… You don’t know, when you first start out,

where to put yourself. Just like if I stepped on a football field, it would be, “Calm down, it’s going to come fast, but it’ll start to slow down for you.” It’s the same kind of thing.