NEED TO KNOW
Channing Tatum spent quite a bit of time on the phone with an inmate at a super-maximum security prison to prepare for his new movie.
Roofman (in theaters Oct. 10) stars Tatum, 45, as real-life convict Jeffrey Manchester, who became notorious for robbing 45 McDonald’s restaurants and once evaded capture by secretly living in a Toys “R” Us store. Manchester, currently serving a 40-year sentence at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, repeatedly called Tatum and director Derek Cianfrance to give them his stranger-than-fiction story.
“It’s a wild thing when you can’t call somebody and they call you from a supermax prison and you have 15 minutes with them,” Tatum tells PEOPLE at the PEOPLE/EW and Shutterstock studio at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 6.
“You basically have to pick up, almost wherever you are,” the actor-producer adds. “I was talking to my daughter’s teacher one time, and literally Jeffrey Manchester is calling and you’re just like, ‘One second, prison’s calling.’ And then you just go have this 15-minute conversation and then that’s it. He’s gone and you don’t know when he’s going to call back or what time.”
Roofman follows Manchester’s six-month stint hiding inside a Toys “R” Us, including his falling in love with a divorced mom (played by Kirsten Dunst). Per an official synopsis, “his double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat and mouse as his past closes in.”
Davi Russo/Paramount Pictures
Tatum says he “had no idea really what to expect” when he read Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn’s script, allowing his phone calls with Manchester to guide his development of the biopic. “He’s a wildly charismatic and warm human. He takes care of you on this phone call.”
A smiling Dunst, 43, cuts in: “I wonder why you were cast.”
Adds the Magic Mike star, “I never got to meet [Manchester]. So hopefully when he gets out, or at some point I’m allowed to actually go see him.”
Cianfrance, 51, says he spoke with Manchester “about four times a week for four years” for research. “The more I heard his story, the more I just couldn’t believe it was actually real. I talked to the police that arrested him, and sure enough, they said, ‘Yeah, that’s what happened.’”
Tatum, who shares 12-year-old daughter Everly with his ex-wife Jenna Dewan, had personal inspiration to draw from when playing scenes involving the incognito Manchester watching his daughter from afar. “I wasn’t acting,” he says of those emotional onscreen moments. “It’s the easiest thing in the world.”
He adds, “I remember the first time that my daughter [rode a bike] and I was pushing her on the bike, and I can’t imagine watching… I mean, I did imagine watching my daughter and not being able to go and have that moment with her. It just crushed me. Absolutely crushed me.”
Mat Hayward/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Roofman, costarring Ben Mendelsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Uzo Aduba, Peter Dinklage and more, is in theaters Oct. 10. The 2025 Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 4–14.
