Channing Tatum reveals why he chose supermax inmate over his own child

Channing Tatum has stunned his daughter’s teacher by stepping out of a meeting to answer an unexpected call from a supermax prison.

The 45-year-old American actor and film producer told PEOPLE, EW, and Shutterstock studio that he talked many times on the phone with an inmate at a supermax prison to get ready for his new movie Roofman.

Speaking to the outlets at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, September 6, Tatum said, “It's a wild thing when you can't call somebody and they call you from a supermax prison and you have 15 minutes with them.”

He explained, “You basically have to pick up, almost wherever you are. I was talking to my daughter's teacher one time, and literally Jeffrey Manchester is calling and you're just like, ‘One second, prison's calling.’ And then you just go have this 15-minute conversation and then that's it. He's gone and you don't know when he's going to call back or what time.”

For those unfamiliar, in Roofman, Tatum plays the role of real-life convict Jeffrey Manchester, who robbed 45 McDonald's restaurants and once hid inside a Toys “R” Us store to avoid being caught.

Manchester, now serving a 40-year sentence at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, called Deadpool & Wolverine actor and director Derek Cianfrance many times to share his story.

It is pertinent to mention that Roofman will be released on October 10, 2025.