Brad Ritter and the team at The Independent Picture House reached out this week and gave me the opportunity to work the media line on the red carpet for the premiere of the locally based film Roofman, which kicked off the 17th annual Charlotte Film Festival. Thanks to everyone at Carolina Theatre and IPH for being so accommodating throughout the evening.
IPH’s creative director Jay Morong mentioned the original plan was to house the premiere in multiple theaters at IPH. However, being a major Hollywood release, Paramount and the production companies needed large ticket allotments to accommodate all of the local artists and film industry workers locally involved in the production of the film. That’s how the gorgeous, newly-renovated Carolina Theatre in Uptown Charlotte ended up hosting the sold out event. The lobby and theater were immaculate, and I can’t wait to see artistic events in that space.
The True Story
Roofman follows a real life Charlotte-area story from the early 00’s, in which former service member, now Veteran Jeffrey Manchester turns to a life of crime, committing dozens of robberies primarily at fast food establishments throughout the state of North Carolina by cutting through their roofs — earning him the alias “Roofman.”
Jeffrey seemed to be both too nice and also too smart to be a criminal, lacking the killer instinct that led to his capture. His skills of observation — which made him a great robber — also allowed him to break out of prison, landing him at a local Toys “R” Us (now Vizion Church), which was formerly located on Independence Boulevard here in Charlotte.
He lived there for months, hidden, eating baby food, riding bikes for exercise, and playing video games to pass the time, while also starting to date a local woman named Leigh Wainscott (now Leigh Moore).
[Editor’s Note: Spoiler Warning] It was quite the story at the time for longtime Charlotte locals, and a unique idea to be adapted to film.
The Film
Channing Tatum stars as Jeffrey Manchester in a role that requires both charm and goofy sensibilities which he has in droves. This is Tatum’s second Charlotte-based crime film after Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky from 2017.
Kirsten Dunst portrays Leigh Wainscott, who is a single mother of two daughters that was dating Jeffrey while he was on the lam from law enforcement. The film features an amazingly deep cast that will have you pulling up your IMDB to research the bevy of actors with stellar careers in both film and TV. Oscar-nominated writer/director Derek Cianfrance who is well known for his extremely dark but emotional dramas (A Place Behind the Pines/Blue Valentine/Sound of Metal) decided to bring a lighter tone to this crime drama.
While the film is very well acted and beautifully shot — with several recognizable Charlotte locations — and paced to keep us on our toes, the overall tone shifts dramatically throughout. I felt stress, sadness, and laughed several times throughout its 126 minute runtime.
This was an amazing story that blended the lines of entertainment and factual accuracy (with some small liberties as Hollywood tends to do), but marketing to broader audiences may be tricky. What does this film want to be at the end of the day? I don’t want to give too much away as the film will be opening to a wider release on October 10th, but for any Charlotte local this is a must watch.
Matt at the Movies Score: 7/10
On the red carpet, I was able to speak with several members of the crew as well as the real life Leigh Wainscott, played by Kirsten Dunst. Check out our exchanges below for some extra insights on the filming and production of Roofman.
Leigh Moore (Portrayed by Kirsten Dunst)
Leigh mentioned that she had very little knowledge at the time about the series of “Roofman” robberies or the escape of Jeffrey Manchester from prison. She along with her two daughters thought of Jefferey, AKA John Zorn, as a really pleasant and well-mannered man. She recently talked to her daughters on the phone before the release of the film and they mentioned he was a blast to hang out with and incredibly fun which leads to this a contrast between criminal and upstanding citizen.
Matt at the Movies: Have you got a chance to already watch the film?
Leigh Moore: Yes, I did.
MatM: Do you think the production brought the 2003 Charlotte the way you remembered it to life? Did the actors do justice to you and your daughters as well as the “Jeffrey” you had memories of during the time?
Leigh: Absolutely. Channing was so charming and funny. Kirsten was just very loving and kind and sensitive to everything. Each of the actors playing my daughters had attitudes just like mine. Um, it was really, really good. Everybody did great. I was very pleased with their portrayals.
Production Designer Inbal Weinberg had her hands full with her staff re-creating an early 00’s Toys “R” Us that filled up over 25,000 square feet of space. As she worked through the press line she mentioned hand making various toys and signage that reflected the time period was quite a challenge but ultimately she felt it captures the aesthetic of being there at the time.
Inbal Weinberg (Production Designer)
MatM: I know we were going back 20 years in time, but were you able to use certain sets and certain settings within the city that maybe hadn’t changed that much? Were you able to use a lot of the natural things that were around when you were making your?
Ingal Weinberg: Yeah, so it was very important to Derek (writer/director) to actually follow the original story and we wanted to shoot in the original Toys r Us, but it is now a megachurch. But what was really beautiful is we were able to find the original church where Jeffrey Manchester went, and we shot in the original church.
It almost hasn’t changed at all, which is kind of amazing. So that is kind of a one to one, and we even found original footage from interviews to mirror. So that was really great. Of course, Charlotte has changed tremendously from what I understand from my local crew. But we sort of kept it intimate and hopefully you do get the feeling..
MatM: You still capture that essence of Charlotte?
Ingal: Exactly. A bit nostalgic. We have one shot of the skyline that I hope is corrected. (edit: sadly it wasn’t and featured the current Charlotte skyline which looked glorious)
MatM: Yeah, I wonder if you had the CGI budget for that!
Ingal: Okay, yeah, yeah, 20 years ago. Because you guys made quite a lot of changes here in that time. We were like, trying to find the real skyline in 2003 and be like, this building wasn’t here, this building wasn’t here, but we did our best in the end.
Producer Jamie Patricof was known and worked with writer/director Derek Cianfrance for almost twenty-five years. His production filmography has ranged from action based films like Ben Affleck’s The Accountant to period epics such as the WWII book adaptation The Zookeeper’s Wife in 2017. His daughter is currently a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill and one of his brothers is the president of our rival MLS soccer team NYCFC. He let us know in the line he was also a big foodie and loved the Charlotte scene where he and Derek would often frequent Lang Van during production. Here’s our exchange.
Jamie Patricof (Producer)
MatM: Being on set, I mean, the cast is incredible. It’s so deep. You have comedians like Jimmy O. Yang who featured in as the tenth lead. I was just curious about being on set with so many veteran amazing actors. Was it a loose set or was everybody trying to step up their game to rise up to the expectations of being around so many talented people?
Jamie: Well, you know, it’s funny, Channing, actually talks about how nervous he was to act against Kirsten Dunst and how Kennedy was one of our younger actors when she went up against Kirsten. Channing marveled at how strong she was against her. And you are right. I mean, the list goes on and on, and I love how you brought up Jimmy O Yang. You know, he was actually one of the last people we’ve cast. Derek could not figure out who the perfect person was for this role. How do you find a 2004 car salesman who can pull up the comedy that feels like they would be in Charlotte?
And so you know, I think that there’s always a pressure like any, whether you’re in business life or you’re in sports, when you’re playing with people or working with people who are at their A-game, you want to bring your A-game as well.
I think Derek does a great job of disarming people and making people feel really natural. Channing used to talk about how Derek would hide things on set that he used to find in the middle and not tell him or lock a door just to have fun with each other. That’s supposed to be an open feeling on set. So I think Derek’s ability to create that environment on set sure helps people kind of get rid of their nerves right away and just live in the universe.
MatM: Looking through your filmography just between doing all the action movies, all the heavily dramatic movies. I mean, I feel like the tone is a little bit different in this one. Is that something you guys set out to do originally, or did it just happen to be?
Jamie: Derek always has said he wants to do a comedy. Yeah. I’ve known him a long time, I’ve known him for 25 years at this point. His kids always like to tell him he’s not that funny. But he proved us all wrong in this movie. You know, really able to create something that had a lot of levity in it, and a lot of drama in it. Channing brought a lot of that to the table as well, but, yeah, it was definitely something we didn’t know going into it or how much was going to play out, because we knew the drama was there. But the comedy really kind of sells this film.
Derek Cianfrance has made extremely heartbreaking and gritty films that leave you gut wrenchingly somber at their conclusion. He’s worked multiple times with Ryan Gosling including the incredible The Place Beyond the Pines set in my old stomping grounds of upstate New York. He was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his work on 2020’s Sound of Metal and took a big swing here moving to a dramedy which is a genre he has yet to tackle. Derek was very sought after at the premiere and the handler at Paramount got me in to ask one question. Being an educator I could help but ask an Oscar nominee for advice that I could pass along to my students.
Derek Cianfrance (Writer/Director)
MatM: I think I read that you started making movies at thirteen. I’m a middle school teacher and I teach creative writing to my students. Is there any advice that you can give to kids that are really into storytelling?
Derek: You know, what they should do is actually just do it! I mean, just make things. They don’t have to be perfect. You just have to finish them. You just have to have fun creating them. I think that the most important thing is to finish. To finish and show it and learn from it and keep going. And by the time I went to film school when I was eighteen, I had like, a dozen films that I had made. They arranged for fifteen seconds to fifteen minutes. So putting in the work and trying to work on new things... keeping it play-like and fun.
If you see someone who’s like a professional basketball player, they have to start dribbling the ball when they’re a kid, you know? I was lucky enough to kind of find my dream early, and I just played.
And what I’ve done on Roofman is actually no different than what I did when I was thirteen. There’s no place I’ve ever gotten myself to intentionally. There’s no destination. So you find that spirit of play, spirit of creation in yourself, and that would be what you practice your whole life.
The Charlotte Film Festival will be running at IPH all week with its conclusion Sunday, September 28th. You can find all ticket and festival information here on this link. My wife and I are excited to go watch Our Hero, Balthazar on Friday night. Thanks again to the Charlotte Film Society, The Independent Picture House, and Carolina Theater for being amazing hosts and letting me be a little film nerd kid for a few hours Cinderella style. We’ll be back to talk about Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film One Battle After Another starring Leonardo DiCaprio soon. Until then thanks for being a reader of Matt at the Movies over at Y’all Weekly!