The Mark Wahlberg led movie The Gambler hits theaters today (December 25). Among the actors appearing in the film is newcomer Anthony Kelley. The 22-year-old former college basketball player was a great fit for the film’s role of Lamar Allen.

Kelley describes Lamar as a star athlete that has a bright future ahead of him, but at the same time he faces serious issues such as overcoming internal emotional battles and close family members struggling with health problems. Kelley’s character eventually builds a relationship with Jim Bennett (Wahlberg), a professor dealing with his own troubles as a high stakes gambler.

AllHipHop.com recently spoke with Kelley. The 22-year-old travel and fine dining connoisseur talked about a particular fun time on The Gambler set when the cameras weren’t rolling, and he shares his picks for two of the big sports events on the horizon.

[ALSO: EXCLUSIVE: Introducing “The Gambler” Star Anthony Kelley]

What is the most memorable off-screen moment during your time filming The Gambler?

When I was playing basketball with Mark’s kids. The basketball gym scene was pretty much done, and we were just shooting around, dunking with some of the other cast members. It was great.

It felt like I was playing college basketball and just hanging out with some of my best friends. It felt like the cast members and I had known each other for years. I still stay in contact with them until this day.

If you could have played any two movie roles in history, which ones would you have picked?

I’ve always wanted to play a martial artist. So something like Wesley Snipes’ Blade. That would definitely be out of my comfort zone, so I would love to play something like that. Or Will Smith in Hitch. I think that would have been great too.

If you had to put $1 million down on which teams would win the College Football National Championship and the Super Bowl, who do you pick?

For the Super Bowl, I’m going with the [New England] Patriots. Shout out to Rob Gronkowski. For college football, I’ll go with Oregon. I have a buddy over there named Blake Stanton. Gotta go with Oregon.