admin We know that Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow looks like Cillian Murphy. Glasnow knows he looks like Murphy. Murphy knows he looks like Glasnow. But we didn’t know—at least until Tuesday night in the Bronx, where Glasnow’s team was in town to play the Yankees—how Glasnow felt about all of this.
Hanging out with GQ in front of his locker, Glasnow revealed that he is a huge fan of both Murphy and Christopher Nolan. We asked whether the doppelganger conversation has grown louder since Oppenheimer came out, if Glasnow has done any acting (or would), and if he was also a bit distracted by one of his childhood favorites appearing in the big, serious atomic bomb movie. He did not disappoint.
GQ Sports: Are you getting even more of the, ‘Oh my god. You look just like Cillian Murphy!’ stuff since Oppenheimer came out?
Glasnow: No, I’ve gotten it for a while, all the doppelganger stuff. It’s definitely been more now but there hasn’t been a big shift or anything. I don’t really look at Instagram. I’m not on there a ton, and I think most of this (lookalike conversation) is through online stuff. Sometimes I’ll get stopped in Tampa and stuff, but nothing crazy.
When did people start telling you that you looked like him?
I can’t remember exactly how it started, but it was like three years ago. That’s when I sort of became that thing—half baseball and half that. Then my mom was like, ‘You kind of do look like him!’ Certain times I feel like I look like him, and other times I don’t at all. It depends on the picture, I guess.
Do you consider yourself a fan of his work?
Absolutely! I think he’s fucking awesome. Peaky Blinders is really good. I think he’s such a good actor, so I’m like, ‘That’s cool, yeah!’ He looks great.
What about Christopher Nolan? Are you a Nolan guy?
Yeah, of course. If you say you’re not a Christopher Nolan fan you’re crazy. You know what I mean? He’s awesome. All his Batman movies are pretty sick. Is he Interstellar and Inception too? (GQ: Yes.) Holy shit. Interstellar is really good. Wow! I didn’t know that he did Interstellar. Maybe I don’t know that much. That movie is insane. I like—Cillian was in Batman Begins too, right? (GQ: Yes.) He does a lot of movies! Wow, that’s incredible.
Are you aware that he’s 5’7”? That’s probably the main difference between you two, physically.
Yeah, yeah, I heard he was shorter.
How hard do you think he can throw a baseball?
I don’t know, I’d have to see his athletic ability. I’d give him 40 (miles per hour). Maybe 50? I’ll say 50. There’s been some dudes—I don’t know about 5’7”—but some short dudes who throw very, very hard.
Have you seen Oppenheimer?
I have! It was awesome. I went to an IMAX theater in Tampa. It was sick. I love the movies, so I go as much as I can. There hasn’t been anything that I’ve really wanted to see recently, but now we’ve got Oppenheimer obviously, and if my girlfriend wanted to see Barbie I’d do that with her. I think she wants to see it with her friends, though. That’s fine. But I’ll probably see it at some point. I heard it was actually pretty good. (Back-to-back) is what, like five, six hours? Just eating and drinking the whole time, that’s the best part. What’s that other new one? The trafficking one (Sound of Freedom)? I want to see that really bad.
What was your favorite part of Oppenheimer?
I just thought every scene, you could tell they poured a lot of time into it. It was three hours long, but every scene was supposed to be there. Also, this is a super easy answer, but the bomb. It goes down slowly and then it’s quiet, but the moment it goes off? That was insane. I remember thinking, ‘How are you supposed to do a nuclear bomb justice in a movie?’ It was perfect. That’s why I wanted to see it in IMAX. I had to wait a while too because it was sold out in Tampa. There was always one seat in the corner up front, but it was worth the wait. I really loved it.
One out of five stars, how would you rank the movie?
Can I do one out of ten? I’d give it a nine out of ten. I thought it was great. In terms of, like, how much time you could tell it took. You know what I mean? They didn’t just throw a movie together. Maybe because I saw it in IMAX, I just felt like I picked everything up a lot more.
I loved that they got Josh Peck, too, even if that did kind of take me out of the movie.
I know, me too! I was like, wait Drake and Josh? That’s nuts. Going from that to the guy who presses the button in Oppenheimer.
Have you ever acted? Were you a theater kid at any point?
When I was little, like really little, I did some plays during the summers before I had to start doing baseball full-time. It was the Canyon Theatre Guild, I think. It was a camp or something, probably something so my mom didn’t have to stay home with me. She used to do plays there. I did one or two and just didn’t really like it. I wasn’t a very good actor.
I can give you the plot, maybe you’ll know it. Actually, no, I can’t. I don’t remember. I just know there was a scene where the king comes out and he’s naked but he doesn’t know it?
This sounds like the Emperor’s New Clothes.
I think it might have been! Clearly I wasn’t that into it. I wasn’t anything big in the play. I was just there to be babysat I think. I don’t remember any of the specific details, I just remember being in it.
Oh! That’s sick, I’m down to do that!
You would say yes if he asked you to be in his next movie?
Fuck yeah! As long as it doesn’t overlap with the season or it’s not too stressful. I would one hundred percent do it, of course.
Whatever is a creamy substance works for me. I have a conditioner or two, but I usually just use whatever the clubhouse has. I get really dry, so if I don’t have anything, I’ll just use, like, hand lotion.
