Channing Tatum wasn’t expecting to drop nearly 70 pounds for his role in Roofman — and the crew wasn’t exactly thrilled by his sudden slim down, either.
“Jeff is a really thin guy. He’s not as big boned as me. I think he’s tall but he’s just really wiry,” Tatum, 45, explained of his character during an interview with Variety published on Tuesday, September 2. “So wired and really fit.”
To embody the character — a robber known for slipping into tight spaces and living in the walls of a Toys R Us — Tatum said he decided to lose a little weight, especially because he was heavier than usual due to a different project.
“I had just done a role earlier that year and I got up to 240 [pounds],” he explained. “I only planned to get down to 185. Once I was already going [with] the days of shooting, it kept coming off. I got down to 172.”
Roofman director Derek Cianfrance revealed in the same interview that their assistant director Mariela Comitini was “concerned” by Tatum’s weight loss.
“She’s like, ‘That’s it.’ She’s like, ‘Get him a steak right now,’” Tatum recalled. “I was like, ‘I think you’re right.’ This is weird.”
The actor reflected on the transformation, noting, “It was sort of an emptiness and a sadness to it. I would see myself and just seem hollow.”
Tatum added, “The movie to me was a lot of loneliness. A real meditation for that wanting to be full. … That empty feeling sucks after a while.”
In Roofman, which hits theaters on October 10, Tatum plays real-life criminal Jeffrey Manchester. Manchester famously broke out of prison in 2004 where he was serving time for robbing different McDonalds to provide for his daughter.
While on the run, Manchester hid for months in a Toys R Us located in Charlotte, North Carolina. He slept behind a wall in the store during the day and would go out at night and live a double life.
Manchester was eventually arrested and is currently serving time in North Carolina’s Central Prison. He is expected to be released in 2036.
Tatum, for his part, previously showed off his weight loss via social media in March when he said he was down to 205 pounds.
He shared a photo at the time when he was 235 pounds working on the film Josephine. In a separate image, Tatym weighed 172 pounds amid Roofman’s filming.
“I’m so grateful for my genetics. Grateful for my chef/nutritionist/witch. Grateful for my trainer. I couldn’t make these big swings in my weight without you guys,” the Magic Mike star wrote via social media in March. “But I won’t be doing any more fat roles haha. It’s too hard on the body and too hard to take off now. But damn when I look at these pics it’s just wild what the human body and will can do.”
Tatum also applauded his slimdown helpers during his Variety interview, saying his body has changed dramatically since his modeling days.
“I used to take 30 pounds off in three weeks,” he told the publication. “I was just starving. The model diet.”
Tatum confessed that now he has a harder time yo-yoing for roles. “I have a great nutritionist, and she’s helped me eat vegetables,” he added, admitting, “I don’t like vegetables. It’s a texture thing.”
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