The star of movie 'The Phenom' talks baseball, training, and his unconventional workouts.
In the new movie The Phenom, up-and-coming actor Johnny Simmons plays Hooper Gibson, a pitching prodigy who skips college to play major league baseball. But when he loses control of his pitches, he gets demoted to the minors and starts seeing a sports psychologist (Paul Giamatti). It's during these sessions that Gibson uncovers that his issues stem from his upbringing and his dad (Ethan Hawke). "This isn't so much a typical baseball movie," Simmons says, "but more of a film that looks at someone who's struggling and how he overcomes it." The movie premiered earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, and hits select theaters and VOD on June 24.
This interview has been condensed and edited.