It’s hard to be a movie star and a dad at the same time — just ask Channing Tatum.
On the latest episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, Daniel D’Addario, Variety chief correspondent, details his reporting for Variety’s Sept. 2 cover story featuring Tatum and director Derek Cianfrance discussing how they brought a stranger-than-fiction true crime story to life in Paramount Pictures’ “Roofman.”
Tatum and Cianfrance came together as collaborators at a time when both of them were regrouping in their careers. Tatum is extremely open in discussing the challenges of juggling movie shoots around the world with his most important job of being a parent to his 12-year-old daughter.
Tatum, D’Addario notes, is at a key transition point in his career as he reaches his mid-40s. “Roofman,” which premieres Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival, tells the story of a blue-collar North Carolina man, Jeffrey Manchester, who wound up living secretly in a Toys R Us store and robbing McDonald’s fast food restaurants in order to provide for his daughter. Manchester was sentenced to 34 years in prison after being convicted of several robberies in 2000.
“I think of [Tatum] as the guy from ‘Magic Mike’ or ’21 Jump Street’ — a fun loving, a goofball. He’s lived a lot of life since then,” D’Addario says. “Those movies were almost 15 years ago, and at 45, he is extremely reflective about the kind of career he wants to have and the kind of work he wants to be doing, not least because he is a dad. And any job means time away from his daughter, whom he cherishes. So he wants to do stuff that is not just formulaic and the stuff he’d been offered.”
The development activity on “Roofman” came as Cianfrance was also moving into a new chapter of his career as a scribe and helmer.
Cianfrance “also took a bit of a break and also had been reflecting on what kind of stories he wanted to tell after having told a bunch of stories that struck a similar note of parent-child inheritance,” D’Addario observes. “So two people for whom being a dad is a big part of their identity, coming together to tell this story about a man who is motivated by the love of his daughter to go on a kind of rollicking crime spree. I think people will be surprised.”
The episode also features Elsa Keslassy, Variety‘s international editor, who is fresh from the Venice Film Festival after being immersed in movies and movie stars. Keslassy gives the lowdown of the biz and the buzz coming off the Lido in another year marked by wild weather for the festival. “After the Hunt,” “Bugonia,” “The Smashing Machine” and “Wizard of the Kremlin” are among the titles that got big FYC boosts from strong showings in Venice, she says.
The topsy-turvy state of the film industry was also hot topic among industry insiders who flocked to the Italian coast for the storied festival that runs through Sept. 6.
“One of the topics that were addressed during the festival, at press conferences and in interviews, was how difficult it is today to finance an independent film,” Keslassy said, citing “Bugonia” helmer Yorgos Lanthimos as an example. “Yorgos Lanthimos mentioned it during his press conference talking about ‘Bugonia,’ which is a remake of a South Korean movie. He talked about how it is difficult to finance original independent movies that are not based on huge franchises. And it’s interesting because for someone like him who’s had such critical acclaim, who’s been at the Oscars, even for someone like him, it’s not easy to finance a movie without a studio on board.”
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