Roofman director Derek Cianfrance wanted everything to be real with his latest film, and he didn’t want to cut corners. So Inbal Weinberg, the film’s production designer, was tasked with recreating a Toys R Us store circa 2004.
Weinberg searched the country to see if any stores still existed, but found very few remained after the retailer filed for bankruptcy in 2018. She eventually found the location, a deserted Toys R Us outside Charlotte, North Carolina.
“There was nothing there. The floor was carved out and we really had to start from scratch,” Weinberg says.
“Roofman” is based on the true story of Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), a man who robbed a McDonald’s by cutting a hole in its roof, earning him the nickname “Roofman.” He is eventually caught and sent to prison, but escapes and spends months hiding in a toy store.
Creating the space proved difficult, as Cianfrance requested that there be real toys in the background and everything be “as layered as possible”. “Derek said, ‘I want Channing to walk around and grab whatever he wants. If he’s going to grab something, there has to be another item behind it,'” Weinberg explains.
The set was a huge 24,000 square feet, so Weinberg and her team discussed how they would accommodate so many toys. “We said, ‘Can we remake it? Can we buy it? Should we make something similar?'” She and her team collected thousands of images and catalogs from the time. She also had her team watch an educational video for Toys R Us employees that she found online.
She credits the art department with filling the store with period-accurate toys and video games, with items like a Tickle Me Elmo doll, a Bad Buggy toy car, and even a Hillary Clinton Barbie doll. “That was it,” she says.
Roofman had been in hiding for several months, and the idea of having to change stores depending on the season added to the challenge. “We needed to showcase a variety of graphics, including back-to-school, Halloween, and Thanksgiving,” she says.
Weinberg accessed police files on the case and visualized Jeffrey’s hiding place behind a bicycle display. However, Stuff received further information from Manchester himself, who contacted the manager. “Derek was on the phone with Jeffrey every week and we talked all the time. He explained that it was behind the bike rack and in the wall,” Weinberg says. “So we had a good conversation with Derek and our cinematographer Andriy Parekh to understand what it would be like visually as we cocooned this space. It was important for Channing to create his own nest.” Little by little, the space becomes warm and inviting.
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The staff also prepared a little surprise for Tatum. “We got some action figures from Marvel, including Channing, so it was really cute for him to find his own action figure,” Weinberg says.
