Actor and producer Channing Tatum stars in Roofman, a film inspired by the story of Jeffrey Manchester, a real-life convicted spree robber. He portrays Manchester and recently spoke about the rare opportunity he got to sit down with the former U.S. Army Reserve soldier as part of his preparation for the role.
Channing Tatum on what real Jeffrey Manchester said to him
The Magic Mike star, playing Jeffrey Manchester in Roofman, got to speak with the real-life inspiration behind his character.
Jeffrey Manchester is currently in prison for his crimes. Along with director Derek Cianfrance, Channing Tatum visited him while preparing to portray him on screen. Recently, the 45-year-old actor told Entertainment Weekly about the conversations he had with Manchester.
Tatum mentioned, “Man, we talked about so much,” recalling those discussions. “I think in the beginning, I obviously had lists and lists of questions about the whys and the hows, and did this really happen? Did that really happen?” He then elaborated on how Manchester told him one of the most heartbreaking things. It helped him learn who the latter is as a human.
The Blink Twice actor shared, “He’s made some bad decisions, and he’s very, very aware of that and having to pay the price for that. But I asked him, when he gets out, what are you going to do? And it really just punched me in the gut, man. He’s like, ‘I don’t know if they’ll ever let me, because I’m a felon, but I would love to adopt, and I would love to have a second chance of being a father and not screwing it up this time.”
“He really knows. He’s like, ‘The thing that I cheated [my kids] out of is just my actual presence in their life. And I just didn’t understand before this, I had to be taught a lesson, and you can’t take those decisions back.’ He’s dealing with those consequences in that reality, and it’s a hard thing to swallow,” Tatum further revealed.
Empathizing with the real Roofman, Channing Tatum also expressed how he wished that Jeffrey Manchester got to see the movie. “But, I hope they give him a second chance to at least see the movie and then hopefully it gives a little perspective on him, and why he did what he did, and maybe it shaves some time off his sentence, but who knows?” he stated.
Originally reported by Elton Fernandes on ComingSoon.net.
