Roofman: Channing Tatum to Star in Derek Cianfrance’s Movie About McDonald’s Thief

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Roofman: Channing Tatum to Star in Derek Cianfrance’s Movie About McDonald’s Thief

Channing Tatum is attached to star in Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman, a new movie about the McDonald’s theif Jeffrey Manchester.

Per Deadline, Tatum has been cast in Roofman, which is directed by Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pine’s Cianfrance.

The movie will tell the story of Manchester, a notorious thief known as the ‘Rooftop Robber’ or ‘Roofman’ who broke into over 60 McDonald’s restaurants during the late 1990s.

Manchester was captured and incarcerated; however, he escaped prison and then lived in a Toys ‘R Us store for approximately six months. He moved into a nearby abandoned Circuit City during the holiday season to avoid being seen.

Manchester was eventually re-captured after his fingerprint was found on a Catch Me If You Can DVD. He’s currently serving a prison sentence that ends in the 2030s.

Who wrote the screenplay for Roofman?

Roofman is co-written by Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn. Dylan Sellers, Chris Parker, Jamie Patricof, and Lynette Howell Taylor serve as producers. The film is developed and financed by Limelight, while FilmNation and CAA Media Finance are bringing Roofman to the European Film Market (EFM) in hopes of securing a distributor.

Cianfrance first confirmed he was working on a movie about Manchester in a May 2022 interview with The Daily Gazette. “I’m writing something about this guy named Jeffrey Manchester who was infamous for robbing 45 McDonald’s and then escaping prison and living in Toys ‘R Us for six months,” he said at the time.

Jeff Sneider’s The InSneider reported that Cianfrance’s next movie would be Roofman in January 2023. According to Sneider, Cianfrance initially wanted Ryan Gosling, who starred in 2010’s Blue Valentine and 2012’s The Place Beyond the Pines, to play Manchester, but Gosling was unable to because of scheduling conflicts. Along with Tatum, Cianfrance was reportedly considering Chris Pine for the role.

Roofman does not yet have a release date.