A former McDonald’s robber has been reunited with his family after years, thanks to a new film starring Channing Tatum.
The star of Magic Mike plays the role of criminal Jeffrey Manchester, a man who was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison for a series of robberies in the late 1990s and early 2000s, in the movie Roofman. The film follows Manchester’s life post-prison break, where he famously hid out in a Toys R Us for months after escaping prison and ended up forming a romantic relationship with one of the employees, a newly divorced mother of two.
Manchester, an ex-military sergeant and divorced father of three, started robbing businesses like McDonald’s, Burger King restaurants, Toys R Us, and Blockbuster stores by creating a hole in the roof to sneak in. He successfully hit 38 businesses across nine states and remained unidentified for years – simply known as The Roofman or Rooftop Robber.
He was apprehended and arrested after robbing a McDonald’s in Belmont, North Carolina, in May 2000, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. However, on June 15, 2004, he escaped from the Brown Creek Correctional Institution by clinging to the underside of a truck.
He then found refuge in a Toys R Us store in Charlotte, North Carolina, for several months, until an employee discovered the space he had been hiding in, reports the Mirror US.
He was ultimately apprehended in 2005 after venturing into town and beginning a relationship with Leigh Wainscott, who eventually assisted authorities in his capture. Manchester is currently incarcerated at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, with an anticipated release date of 2036.
In recent years, Manchester had become disconnected from his relatives, but following the October release of Roofman, he has successfully rebuilt bonds with his daughter and sister, who had been out of touch for an extended period, according to director Derek Cianfrance. In an interview with Page Six, Derek revealed, “In the time since the movie has come out in the last month, just two days ago, I spoke with his daughter for about two hours.
“She’s been in contact, she’s talked to Jeff six times . . . So in some ways, the movie has had this effect of connecting them again, you know, because he hadn’t talked to her for, I think, 15 years.” He noted that Manchester’s sister has also reestablished communication with him.
He shared, “Jeff called me a couple weeks ago, and he said, ‘Derek, if I could give you a hug, I would.’ He was like, ‘I called my sister, and she answered, and we talked for a half hour,’ and he said ‘It was like we were in high school together again.'” Director Derek Cianfrance spent more than four years in conversation with the incarcerated burglar before bringing the story to the big screen, quickly recognizing him as “such a family man” who desperately wanted to “make this perfect home for his kids” but “couldn’t figure out a way to do it.”
The film Roofman, which also features Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage and Juno Temple, hit theaters in October.
The movie has earned an impressive 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviewers applauding both the storyline and Channing’s performance. Jesse Hassenger from AV Club commented, “It’s nice to see Cianfrance working in a less melodramatic key, with conflict at a low simmer, and he doesn’t cop out on the reality of the situation.”
Casey Chong from Casey’s Movie Mania said: “Channing Tatum’s easygoing charm leads Derek Cianfrance’s uneven true-crime dramedy,” while critic Sarah Vincent noted, “The movie is not only a character study about a man, but a profile of a community and what Manchester’s story tells the moviegoer about society.”
Peter Travers from The Travers Take said, “Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst find the heart but not the bruised soul in a true-life crime drama from director Derek Cianfrance that should have cut deeper and hurt more.”
Tessa Smith from That Hashtag Show enthused, “A truly captivating story that is so wild it is almost impossible to believe it is true (in a good way). Channing Tatum delivers an unforgettable performance!”
