Channing Tatum wishes he knew how to get more movies like Roofman into movie theaters. “If I had that answer, I think I’d have a lot of money coming to me,” he jokes to Consequence via Zoom. “We just need to figure out how to change that narrative.”
In Roofman, Tatum plays Jeffrey, a well-meaning thief who escapes from prison and hides out inside a North Carolina Toys “R” Us, falling in love with a Toys “R” Us employee played by Kirsten Dunst while he tries to figure out how to reunite with his own family. Based on a true story, it’s a nuanced character drama with solid jokes and a lot of heart — the sort of movie that was more common to see in theaters 20 years ago, but now struggles to get theatrical distribution.
Both Dunst and Tatum acknowledge the changes in today’s world that have led to more people staying home. As Dunst puts it, “I think COVID and iPhones really have made us a little lazy. It’s also expensive to go to the movies, so I understand.”
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Tatum admits that he’s biased, because “I just love seeing movies in the theater. But it’s hard to convince people who don’t want to leave their house, much less go pay $60 for a movie experience if they don’t go, ‘All right, this is a giant movie. It’s a world-building movie that I need to see on the big screen.’”
However, what Tatum says he hates is when people outside the entertainment industry say, “You guys don’t make any good movies anymore.” Because from his point of view, by only going to see “big giant Marvel movies,” audiences are missing out. “There’s a lot of good movies being made,” he says. “You’re just not going to see them in the theaters.”
Tatum recalls having a conversation along these lines in the year 2022, and asking the person complaining about the lack of good film: “Have you seen Tár? And they’re like, ‘No, I don’t know what that movie is.’ And I’m like, ‘Go see it. It’s in the theater now. It’s a great movie.’”
The challenge of Roofman, Tatum says, is that “I can’t generalize the movie. I love movies like that, where I don’t know what I’m going to get, but the trailer doesn’t just give you everything: It kind of gives you a little piece.”
Tatum adds that “I personally thought they were selling this movie too much as a comedy in the beginning. But I was like, ‘Okay, but I want people to go see it.’ It has beautiful themes in it, as well as some real crazy scenes where you’re just like, ‘Whoa, like that really happened?’ So what do you sell it as, then? Like, a romance?”
Dunst agrees, noting that the movie, to her, feels like “a classic holiday movie that you want to see with your family. Gather around, everyone will enjoy it. And there’s a lot of life positivity to it. It feels like, ‘Oh, I’m seeing human beings and what they’re actually struggling with.’”
As she continues, “I do believe in our film and I feel like it has a lot of genuine emotions. We’re not trying to spoon-feed you — it doesn’t feel phony or manipulative. I think people react to that when they feel genuinely moved by something. This honestly is a movie that your whole family can go see together.”
Roofman is available now on VOD via Apple TV and Amazon, and you can also check it out on Paramount+ beginning December 9th.