The new Jason Kelce film is ‘a love story’ and ‘a gift from the documentary gods’

Jason Kelce planned two years ago to retire, believing 2021 would be his 11th and final season in the NFL. He walked-on in college and entered the NFL as a late-round lottery ticket before blossoming into one of the league’s elite offensive linemen and earning a Super Bowl ring. Kelce was finished.

So Kelce — with the help of former Eagles teammate Connor Barwin — hatched an idea. He wanted his farewell season to be a documentary centered around the theme of what it is like for a professional athlete to walk away. He would talk to former players about how they transitioned to life after football, give viewers a glimpse at what it takes to play every week, and explore what he could do when he was done snapping the ball.

The project was filmed that season by Don Argott and Sheena Joyce, Philadelphia-based documentarians who own 9.14 Pictures. It seemed like a good idea. But then the Eagles made a surprise run to the playoffs, Kelce reconsidered his plans, and decided to put his retirement on hold.

“We said, ‘Do you still want to do this doc?’ He said, ‘Let’s just keep going and see what happens,’” Argott said.

What happened was this: Kelce and the 2022 Birds steamrolled to the NFC’s best record, won a playoff game, won another, and headed to the Super Bowl against Kansas City and Kelce’s younger brother, Travis. Then add in the Kelce brothers’ new podcast; their appearance on Saturday Night Live; the Christmas album Kelce and his teammates recorded; the fact that Kelce’s wife, Kylie, was nine months pregnant at the Super Bowl with their third child; and that Kelce — who turned 35 in November — played all season with the internal struggle about deciding when it would be right to stop playing.

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The documentary — which is titled Kelce and debuts Sept. 11 on Prime Video — became a new movie as they kept the cameras rolling.

“It was like a gift from the documentary gods, basically,” Argott said. “That’s the film that we ended up making.”

Joyce grew up in Delaware County, went to Cardinal O’Hara, and spent summers with her dad at training camp when the Eagles practiced at West Chester University.

“I grew up in a Birds house,” Joyce said. “There was no question about that.”

9.14 Pictures — which is based in Philly — has made movies about John DeLorean and Ronnie James Dio. They’ve been honored at film festivals around the world and praised by Roger Ebert. But this — a movie about one of their city’s all-time sports heroes — feels different.

“I’ve been an Eagles fan since birth,” Joyce said. “Having a relationship with anyone on the team is kind of amazing, but to have that person be Jason Kelce and be able to call him a friend, is an unbelievable privilege that I would have never dreamed of sitting in my bedroom in Aston.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it, this story is a love story. It’s a love story between the Eagles and their fans, a city and a team, Jason and his wife, Jason and his brother, Jason and his parents. It really transcends just football. You’re wrapped up in the stakes of it and you understand what it took for Jason to make the decision that he ended up making.”

The film captures Kelce last season everywhere from Sea Isle City to Chickie’s & Pete’s, where Kelce went after the NFC championship game to watch on TV as his brother and the Chiefs won the AFC title game to set up the Kelce Bowl. It gives insight into the pain Kelce lives with as a result of 12 NFL seasons and what it takes him to get his body ready for another Sunday. And it includes reflections from Kelce about the dangers of CTE, the risks of stretching out his career, and his family’s thoughts about his retirement, which keeps getting delayed.

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“The fact that we were in Philadelphia and doing a documentary on the sports story in the NFL and knowing we had inside access, it’s still surreal to think about it,” said Argott, who grew up in North Jersey but has lived in Philly for 30 years. “I was at the Super Bowl with Jason’s family and his wife is nine months pregnant, so I had a camera just in case she had to go to the hospital. It’s been such an incredibly surreal experience.”

The film was Kelce’s idea, so it didn’t seem like much of a surprise that Arnot and Joyce were granted so much access to Kelce and his family. They filmed at their house, followed Kylie Kelce to her doctor’s appointments, went to Jason Kelce’s hometown outside Cleveland, and interviewed his parents about their own relationship.

The documentary provides a behind-the-mask look at what makes an NFL player tick and the commitment required from an entire family to keep a career churning. Kelce’s story is well known and he’s been in the public eye for years. Yet, the film still uncovered layers to the football star. And that’s largely because of the access the filmmakers had, which they said isn’t always guaranteed even when the subject is the one with the idea to make a movie.

“There’s been plenty of times that people have come to us with ideas but they don’t understand what it really means to make a documentary,” Joyce said. “That you’re going to be there a lot. That you’re going to be spending a ton of time together. The times when your instincts are, ‘Hey guys, don’t shoot this,’ are the times where as documentary filmmakers we’re going to be like, ‘No. This is stuff we have to get. You want to get this.’”

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Kelce went into the 2021 season certain that it was his farewell tour, but he didn’t feel that way last season after he decided to keep playing. The film details the weight Kelce feels about deciding when to walk away and the burden his family shares as he stays on the field. It discusses Kelce’s options for what’s next, which includes raising cattle and selling real estate. And gives the story of how Kelce overcame the odds to build his career.

“Once he decided not to retire, it was all of us coming together collectively and saying, ‘Let’s keep going and let’s see what happens here,’ not knowing frankly if anything was going to come of it,” Argott said. “We really didn’t know what it was, but it felt like something was there. To have that freedom and that trust to go into this a little bit blind. I couldn’t look at a crystal ball and say, ‘Hey guys, we should 100% follow this next season because there’s a good chance you’re going to the Super Bowl and play against your brother.’ The odds of that happening six months before you do it is zero to none. You have to go into this with an open mind and ability to say, ‘There’s a bigger, better story here that we can make. What do you guys think?’ And everyone is like, ‘Yeah, why not,’ as opposed to ‘No, I want to do the retirement thing and it has to be that.’ It was a testament to everyone being open.”

His decision to keep playing after 2021 ultimately spoiled the original project they had spent months filming. But it ended up giving the filmmakers a better movie. Everything was perfect, a storyteller’s dream. The only thing missing was another Super Bowl parade.

“We should’ve known better since we live in Philly,” Argott said. “But we were like, ‘There’s no way the Eagles aren’t going to win the Super Bowl. Everything is going our way, right? This is the perfect thing for this movie. Here we are with one of the most iconic players on the team, documenting his journey, they’re of course going to win, and that’s going to be the best ending for our movie.’ We should’ve known better. But, like every great sports movie, and it’s cliché to say but Rocky didn’t win at the end of Rocky. In a way, it’s a better film because it’s not really about winning or losing. It’s about the journey it took to get there.”

“This one is really, really special in so many ways. I can’t wait for the city to see it. I don’t know if the city is ready for it — to be honest.”