Roofman is a Paramount Pictures and Miramar real-life criminal cat and mouse caper about real life thief Jeffrey Manchester nicknamed “The Rooftop Robber” from 1997 to 2004 that may movie-making headlines!
Directed by Derek Cianfrance, who has written and directed the movie Blue Valentin e, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Light Between Oceans as well as the HBO mini series “I know this Much is True ” Roofman stars Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, Ben Mandolsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Malone Diaz, Uzi Aduba, Lily Collins, and Jimmy O. Yang.
At a private studio/critics screening here in LA with Tatem and Cianfrance that I attended – there was not one empty seat. A Q and A was held after with them. You can see a friendship bond has been created between actor and director.
This is a riveting story about the behind the scenes of how a headline-grabbing caper was conducted. Manchester would break into businesses for McDonald’s and Burger King’s through their roofs stealing up to $100 thousand dollars. Manchester was sentenced and served time but in 2004 he escaped, ran from officials and hid and lived inside a Charlotte, North Carolina Toys “R” USA store for about six months. How did he do it? He made a makeshift home living on store products behind a small alcove semi circle behind a bicycle display wall. In 2005, he was caught again in Charlotte and remains incarcerated today but did try to escape yet again not once but a few times.
This is a loosely based story. It is real and if it is not – few would believe it.The movie is what movies should be. It had emotion, smarts, appropriate lightness and is evenly paced. This is Channing Tatum’s best role yet and he holds up solely as the lead man captivating each scene. This movie is his with a strong costarring role by Dunst. The movie takes artistic license and is not fully accurate to the T but it makes for a great movie experience based on a very true story.
For the role, Tatum lost nearly 70 pounds and went from 245 pounds to 172. In one scene he is completely naked from the back side and his body is lean and able to do the stunts that the real agile and slim Manchester did. This was a very physical movie for Tatum. He had initially planned to loose 60 pounds but ended up at 70. He said the weight loss left him with an unexpected “emptiness and sadness”
The film was shot in and around Charlotte where it happened to stay true to authenticity.Here’s the backstory:
In 1998, a divorced US army veteran was trying hard to provide for his three young children. With a strong skills in observation he uses his awareness for noticing and exploiting routines to rob McDonald’s and Burger Kings by breaking in at night through the roof and then in the morning to get out – he would order the staff into the walk-in-freezers but treated them kindly offering his coat to keep them warm before escaping.
Over two years, he conducted over 40 robberies. He is sent to prison and his wife cut off contact with his children. Working in a prison shop, he pays attention to trucks coming in and out to figure out how to escape underneath a delivery truck. He escaped and hitchhiked to Charlotte peeling off his prison uniform to blend in – and went on the run.
He calls his friend Steve who tells him to stay under the radar and so he ran into the toy store and found shelter for months and months. Able to survive on food in the store and by putting the babies security monitors throughout the store to watch and listen on the manager and employees, he lived behind a a hollow behind an bicycle display wall and would make his way through the store once the store was closed each night. He took clothing from the donation bin in the store and used other merchandise tu survived. He lived on Peanut M&M’s.
One day, he sees a female employee played by Kirsten Dunst and who is unhappy at her job due to a strict manager who won’t give her time off as she requested. Peter Dinklage plays the tough manager perfectly. Tatum’s character meets Leigh the Dunst character one night when he leaves the store at a singles night at the local church and begins a relationship. she has no idea who he is or that he lives in her store. He tells the church singles night that he is government agent so thus he can’t give details about his life. They begin a sweet relationship. He missed his own three children so he built a relationship with his girlfriends two children.
The end of the movie has him caught while washing himself in the store’s bathroom by the store’s manager who showed up early. Tatum’s character is naked (makes for a great scene has he has to run through the store to hide.) Police are called and think a homeless is in the store and the search ensues. How he is caught will remain unprinted here to not ruin this review but later in time forgiveness is achieved in certain areas.
Jeffrey Manchester is eligible for parole in 2036.
