Channing Tatum gets a whole Toys “R” Us to himself in the new film, Roofman, and he stars opposite Kirsten Dunst. Based on a true story, the film stars Tatum as former Army Ranger and struggling father, Jeffrey Manchester, who starts robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, which earns him the nickname “Roofman.” After escaping from prison, he begins a new life while hiding in the famous toy store. Paramount has just released the trailer for Roofman.
Yesterday, Entertainment Weekly shared new exclusive images from the film, which you can check out below. Roofman also stars Peter Dinklage as the Toys “R” Us manager, Juno Temple and LaKeith Stanfield as Manchester’s friends, Melonie Diaz, Uzo Aduba, Lily Collias, Jimmy O. Yang and Ben Mendelsohn.
The official synopsis reads, “Based on an unbelievable true story, Roofman follows Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), a former Army Ranger and struggling father who turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname: Roofman. After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys “R” Us for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move. But when he falls for Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), a divorced mom drawn to his undeniable charm, his double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat and mouse as his past closes in.”
Derek Cianfrance directs the film from a screenplay that he and Kirt Gunn wrote. The producers on board include Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell Taylor, Alex Orlovsky, Duncan Montgomery and Dylan Sellers. And the executive producers include Derek Cianfrance, Channing Tatum, Jonathan Montepare, Charles M. Barsamian, Chris Parker, Tyler Zacharia, Matthew von Waaden, D. Mark von Waaden, Jack Selby, Rick Covert and Sam Romano.
Tatum, who entered the MCU as the X-Men’s Gambit, was under the impression that Roofman would be less physically taxing than his other action roles, but soon discovered how wrong he was. He tells EW, “It was absolutely exhausting. When I read this, I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t an action movie. I’m not going to be exhausted by the end of the day.’ I’ve had to hit the ground every day on a movie before and your body hurts. But this was a spiritual marathon on some level.” Then, he explained, “Derek really wanted me to break through the roof. Lots of times in movies, you’re trying to shave off every little unnecessary moment, so you can put in more story or action. Derek loves those in-between moments of like, ‘Oh, I can’t get this roof shingle off.’ It’s the struggle of the thing. He doesn’t want it to be nice and neat and carefully pre-planned, where it doesn’t look hard.”
Another thing Tatum admits to being intimidated by was working with Kirsten Dunst, who grew up in movies with films like Interview with the Vampire, Jumanji, Bring It On and the Spider-Man films. He stated, “There’s nothing that she hasn’t done. I was very, very nervous and that did something to me, meeting her for the very first time and having those real nerves. And then there was a real release in a way, a real falling into her because she’s so loving, warm. And open. It really did something for me.”
Roofman enters theaters this October 10.
