Plus, the most surprising things the director learned about the real Roofman from the people who knew him. Roofman director reveals the wild true stories that g

Plus, the most surprising things the director learned about the real Roofman from the people who knew him.

Roofman director reveals the wild true stories that got cut from the film: 'Too crazy for a movie'

Plus, the most surprising things the director learned about the real Roofman from the people who knew him.

By Lauren Huff

Lauren Huff

Lauren Huff is an award-winning journalist and staff writer at ** with over 12 years of experience covering all facets of the entertainment industry.

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October 10, 2025 2:00 p.m. ET

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Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester in 'Roofman'. Credit:

Davi Russo/Paramount

The true story behind the new film *Roofman* is so outrageous that director Derek Cianfrance decided to leave out some details he didn't think audiences would believe.

"There were so many things that happened in real life, and I had a two-hour runtime that I was trying to hit," Cianfrance tells *.* "And Jeff's lived a pretty wild life. There were many things that happened that I couldn't include."

Which is saying something, considering how wild the film already is. *Roofman* follows Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), an Army veteran and struggling father who robs McDonald's restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs — hence the nickname — to afford the life he wants for his family. After a daring jailbreak, he secretly lives inside a Toys "R" Us for six months, where he manages to go undetected while attempting to rebuild his life — including starting a relationship with divorced mom and store employee Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst) — before his past catches up with him.

So, with all that covered in the film, what parts of Manchester's story didn't make the cut? "There was a great story about him stealing Hot Pockets from the manager of the Toys 'R' Us because he got sick of eating candy, and he found these Hot Pockets in the freezer that had a note on them that said, 'Property of so-and-so,'" Cianfrance explains.

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Manchester then ate them all, and the next day came in the break room to find a note that said, "Whoever ate my Hot Pockets, I will find you." According to Cianfrance, Manchester responded with a note of his own. "He wrote on the board, 'Try and find me,' with an expletive," the director recalls, laughing. "And then the manager came in the next day and was like, 'Whoever's using curse words in this break room will be found. I will find you.'"

Cianfrance, who co-wrote the film with Kirt Gunn, didn't actually film the Hot Pockets moment, but he did shoot another "crazy scene" that didn't make it into the film. "Jeff on Halloween night was dressed up as a giant bunny, and he was trick-or-treating with one of Leigh's kids," he explains.

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When the child complained that her hands were cold, Manchester came up with a DIY solution. "Jeff walked into a police station and got a pair of scissors to cut holes in her pockets so her hands would stay warm, and he was surrounded by wanted posters of himself, in a bunny costume," the director says with a laugh. "And that scene was a great scene, but it was almost too much to believe in it. It was too crazy for a movie, even."

While the film isn't a historical biopic, Cianfrance says everyone involved took painstaking care to get it right. They shot in some of the real locations Manchester frequented — like the North Carolina church he attended with Wainscott — as well as in a real prison for the climactic, tearful reunion for the former couple. They also sourced real toys and costumes from the early aughts era. And Cianfrance (and Tatum) spent hundreds of hours talking with Manchester and the other real-life people in the film who knew him.

Channing Tatum, director Derek Cianfrance, and Kirsten Dunst on set of 'Roofman'.

Anything that was changed was more for dramatization, Cianfrance says. "It isn't a journalistic piece — it's a movie — so there's a cinematic truth that I was looking for, and an emotional truth. There's certain things that we tweaked or changed a little bit so that you would understand the themes of the movie better. We had to adapt things like that, but only to tell the larger cinematic truth, and I think we did that."

That cinematic truth largely emerged from conversations Cianfrance had with the church's pastor, Ron Smith (played by Ben Mendelsohn in the film), and Wainscott. The *Blue Valentine* helmer says he was struck by how the two talked about Manchester so positively, despite his lies and the disruption he caused to their lives.**

"I had expected them to be very angry with Jeff and feel betrayed, but they had nothing but good things to say about him," he says. "Leigh talked about how he was the greatest adventure in her life, and that she didn't regret a second of time that she spent with him, and they both spoke of him like he was this unicorn that appeared in their lives."

Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester in 'Roofman'.

Davi Russo/Paramount

He continues, "So I tried to take that truth that they gave me about their perspective on him, and bring that into the tone of the film and really find that sense of the character. Jeff made these huge mistakes, but I think those two characters met him with equal forgiveness and grace. And I was thinking society had judged Jeff pretty harshly, and that the movie should take Ron's lead on this and see the grace, not shy away from the tragedies that he created out of his life, but also not dismiss his inherent flawed humanity at the same time."**

*Roofman*, which also stars Peter Dinklage, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Uzo Aduba, and more, is now in theaters.

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