Chris Conley appears on The Star Wars Show

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver appeared on The Star Wars Show to discuss his love of the series and his own film, Retribution.

Chris Conley has made no secret of his love of Star Wars. The Georgia product and Kansas City Chiefs wideout even wrote and directed his own Star Wars fan film entitled Retribution in 2014. Recently, the Star Wars Show, a web series that discusses all facets of Star Wars fandom and the universe of the series, had Conley on the show to discuss his own film and his love for the series.

What was it like after it came out—after you finished the film and released it?

Sometimes athletes get pigeonholed into stereotypes of what they are and what their interests are and what they can do. I think teh first response I got from a lot of people was, ‘Oh, all football players aren’t dumb.’ I think Retribution really opened the door for me to fall in love with filmmaking.

You’re a pretty hardcore fan. Where did you go next [after the films]?

My mom was big on making us read. She’s a teacher, so if I had a choice of what book, it was a Star Wars related book. And then immediately, once I was old enough and allowed to play video games, I played all the games, from N64 to the old computer games: The Jedi Knight Academy, Jedi Knight Outcast.

I was told you’re still a huge Old Republic fan and you still play from time to time.

Yes. You know, when the game first came out, I was on there an obscene amount of time. I played competitively online and even had a gaming laptop in my dorm room on a table that I had set aside just for that came.

Wow! Nerd!

Yes, nerds come in all shapes and sizes. I think it would be more evident if a lot of the Cons actually weren’t during our football season, because I’d be at every single one of them. I’ve met tons of guys connected with all of this stuff, and I think it’s something that’s bigger than the stereotype. I think it’s a great community of people, whether it’s video games or the books or even the movies. The prop-building communities that come together… there’s so many facets of the story of Star Wars in the world that people can connect to in their own way. I think the talented people in this building who are working on all these projects, Star Wars is in great hands right now. I’m confident of that. It makes me happy as a fan to know that you guys work around something that’s so dear to so many of us.