Interview with ROOFMAN writer/director Derek Cianfrance

Did you hear the one about the guy who escaped prison and wound up living in a Toys ‘R Us store for 6 months? It sounds like either a setup for a joke or the kind of question you’d overhear at a coffee shop, but writer/director Derek Cianfrance not only heard about such a story, he made it into a movie.

“Roofman” stars Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester, who, between 1998 and 2005, robbed 45 McDonald’s in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. He would tear into the roofs of these locations late at night and wait for the morning crew to arrive. Once the restaurants opened, he would rob the employees at gunpoint, escorting them into the walk-in refrigerator in a most patient and considerate manner, at times offering his own coat to those who didn’t have one, while he raided the cash registers. One could easily see how such actual events would pique the curiosity of a filmmaker.

On the surface, “Roofman”, which is being marketed as a crime comedy, appears to be a departure for Cianfrance. Known primarily for heavy dramas that examine the complexities of human connection, such as “Blue Valentine”, “The Place Beyond the Pines”, and “The Light Between the Oceans”, his latest feature also includes such observations in surprisingly touching ways.

Sure, “Roofman” offers humor in its “stranger than fiction” story, but Cianfrance is primarily interested in understanding and presenting the real people of these uncanny situations. The result is a thoroughly engaging story with some excellent performances by a tremendous cast and one of the most satisfying viewing experiences of the year.

Most of the movie takes place during the 6 months Manchester lived in the Toys ‘R Us store. During this time, he built a surveillance system using baby monitors and lived on baby food and candy. He would eventually start to date one of the employees, Leigh Wainscott, who was wonderfully portrayed in the movie by Kirsten Dunst. To get it all right, Cianfrance did extensive research and was able to speak with many of the people involved, including Machester and Wainscott. Some of the people who either interacted with Manchester or were impacted by his actions make cameo appearances in the movie, which organically reinforces the authenticity of the project.

Recently, I sat down with Cianfrance while he was in Chicago to promote “Roofman”. In our brief conversation, we discussed what might drive someone to hide in plain sight, the preparation that went into bringing this true story to the big screen, and how refraining from passing judgment on characters can ultimately illuminate their humanity.

Cianfrance was great to talk to, and I feel like we could’ve gone on and on. Sadly, we had a limited amount of time, and the subject of “time” is what we closed on.

“Roofman” is currently playing in theaters and is the kind of film that needs your support. Go seek it out and check out my full review as well.

David J. Fowlie: I assume that curiosity about the real-life events was the driving impetus that brought you to this story.

Derek Cianfrance: Yeah.

DJF: After I saw the trailer this summer, I came upon this article online about a 35-year-old woman who was found living on the roof of a supermarket in Michigan.

DC: I heard about that.

DJF: Oh, okay. You heard about that. I thought you might have. So, I was wondering if, in your research, you came across other individuals like Jeff, such as this woman, who were hiding in plain sight, whether they were criminals or not. And, if you did, what did you make of the psychology of somebody like that? 

DC: Well, there’s also like that movie, “Secret Mall Apartment.”

DJF: That’s right—the documentary. 

DC: I think what it spoke to, to me, and what I learned about it, what I meditated on, what I researched and talked to people a lot about, was just how hard it is to make it and be a provider and to survive and to find a home. I think 60, 70 years ago, if you had a family and one person in the family had a job, you were pretty much guaranteed you could have a house and a car and a garage. And if two people worked, you could have two cars, a two-car garage, and possibly a pool. And nowadays it’s just, you can have two members of a household working two jobs, three jobs, and still not have enough to make ends meet. And so I was thinking there’s a lot of desperation about how to make things work.

So, the idea I tried to explore in this film was that of “home.” Because I was thinking a lot about the title “Roofman”, which came from the news. And I started to think, my dad used to say, “I put a roof over your head.” I began to think that Roofman was also the story of a provider, of someone who was trying to provide. And what are you providing? Things? Or are you providing time? Or are you providing love? And I think that’s one of Jeff’s, that’s one of the secrets of the movie.

It’s a man trying to find home, trying to make a home. The very first shot of the film, when we scan over the rooftop, but before you see that, there’s a sign that says “Homemaker.” And Jeff eventually finds his home, and the real Jeff has found a home in prison. He’s been there for almost 30 years, and he’ll be there for another 10.

DJF: Wow. And you and your production crew immersed yourselves in that area around Charlotte, North Carolina. How long was that immersion process before you actually started shooting? 

DC: Well, I spent four and a half years working on the movie. So, that started out with conversations with Jeff, who’s in a Max prison. I couldn’t call him. He could only call me. The phone calls lasted only 15 minutes because that’s all the time the state gives you. I had probably 400 hours of phone calls with him over the years. Midway through talking with him, I started to wonder, is he conning me, or is he telling me a tall tale? So, I reached out to anyone who would speak to me. Some people in his life didn’t want to talk to me. All those that did, I tried to hear the story from their point of view. They all validated it.

And then I realized that when I had to start shooting the movie, it was a challenge to find the money to make it, when  I had pitched it to Hollywood. I wanted to make a Capra-esque movie. One of my favorite lines from a Capra movie is, “Rich people are just poor people with money.” So, I was thinking a lot about just making a movie about regular, working-class, suburban people without judgment and also without major judgment of the system that they were living in. Just to embrace the world that they lived in as it was.

Anyway, so we went, so I wanted to go down to Charlotte to shoot it. I had a lot of suggestions that we should go to South Africa to shoot it, because our money would go further there. But I just knew that I wanted to go to the place where it actually happened. Once in Charlotte, we immersed ourselves for about six months. And the longer we were down there, the more people from Jeff’s story came out of the woodwork – it was great. That story was widely publicized and was such a major event in their lives. So, I gave them all opportunities to be in the movie if they wanted to, and a lot of them said “Yes,” and wound up playing themselves or other versions of themselves in the movie. I feel like all movies are built around suspension of disbelief, so it was important to me because the story is so crazy. And I needed to be down there so I could suspend my own disbelief.

DJF: Yeah, for sure. Now, did you have access to the real-life Leigh?

DC: Yeah. The real-life Leigh and the real-life Pastor Ron were two of the most influential interviews that I did. I spent a lot of time with them. They’re both in the movie, too. Leigh plays a crossing guard, and Pastor Ron plays the pawn shop owner.

DJF: Oh, great.

DC: Anyway, when I talked to them, I expected them to be bitter. I expected them to feel betrayed. I expected them to be angry with Jeff. However, when I spoke to both of them, they talked about Jeff with such grace and empathy. And Lee said he was the “greatest adventure” of her life and that she didn’t regret a moment, and that she only had good things to say about him. And then when I talked to Pastor Ron, I was like, “Tell me about the Bible,” and he was like, “The Old Testament’s about judgment, and the New Testament is about grace. And in his life, he tends to err on the side of grace. I thought to myself, well, society judged this guy pretty harshly. And the judge who sentenced him to 45 years is also in the movie; she plays the prosecutor.

I understand why he got sentenced for that long. I just don’t know if I…well, it’s not my job. I’m not a judge. However, I felt that the movie might benefit from following Pastor Ron’s guidance and showing the character some grace. I think it did, and definitely not in a heavy-handed way at all.

DJF: That’s one of the things that I appreciated about the movie. You’re not passing judgment on any character, but you’re also not giving any of these characters a kind of stereotypical presentation. You could have easily done that with the church people and with the town folk, but you treat them as authentic, real people. That must have come from getting to know them and feeling a need to pay them respect as well.

DC: Well, it just comes down to who I am and my upbringing. I grew up in the suburbs of Denver. I worked in a Walmart. I attended church every Sunday as a kid, and I went to Catechism. I don’t judge anybody. I honestly get a little annoyed often when I see depictions of suburban people on the screen or when I see depictions of working-class people on the screen. It makes me nuts because I see people at their kitchen tables with cheese balls and cheese whiz and cheese whatever. And it’s just like, really? Is this what people are doing? I’ve never been at a place where people are eating cheese balls with cheese whiz on paper plates in their dining room. You know what I mean?

DJF: Yeah, I do.

DC: It makes me nuts. It’s like one of my biggest pet peeves in movies. And whenever I make movies about people, I just want to empathize with them. I love them. I just want them to shine.

DJF: Well, that definitely shows through with “Roofman”, and you have a tremendous cast to help you out. One thing that I found really moving was when Tatum, as Jeff, was talking about time. It made me think about how my stepdad once told me that the most important thing you can do for somebody is give them your time. Now, when you’re in prison, you have no choice with your time, but you have plenty of time to reflect on your time. What do you feel like you learned about observing time or appreciating and respecting time from making this movie?

DC: They also say you’re doing time when you go to prison, because that’s all you have is time. That aligns in the movie. I made this movie from a very personal place. Being a father has been the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life. And my boys, as I was writing this story, were becoming young men. I was really obsessed with the idea of last times, as I realized that one day I would read my kids their last bedtime story. Of course, I wasn’t aware of it at the time it was happening. Even though you’re doing something every night, there will still be a last time, just as there is a last time you have a summer. There’s a last time to everything. And I was thinking how that related to this idea. Maybe I was feeling a little like Jeff, being in the empty nest at the end of the movie. He’s in prison. He’s alone. And despite all the love that he poured into people, they’re now off somewhere without him.

So, I was just thinking a lot about time and the things that are valuable. I was thinking about what I give my kids. Is it stuff? Is it things? I kept returning to my dad’s line, “I put a roof over your head,” which made me think,“Oh, that’s what Roofman is. That’s what it is.

But those are all the little things that are, I call it the spinach. That’s the spinach you put in the burrito. You don’t taste it, but it’s there. So, I think about that especially with this movie because I wanted anyone to be able to see it. I wanted them to feel all those things.

DJF: For sure.

DC: It’s cool talking to you, because I feel like you’re noticing those things. You’re tasting the spinach.

DJF: I could chew on that some more, but we’re out of time.