“Roofman” DP Andrij Parekh on Shooting Super 35, Filming in North Carolina, and Channing Tatum’s Surprising Vulnerability

Director Derek Cianfrance and cinematographer Andrij Parekh forged a tight bond in 2009 while making Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams’ acclaimed indie drama Blue Valentine. In the intervening years, Parekh, armed with an MFA in cinematography from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, won an Emmy for directing Succession and helmed another HBO hit, their Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, while Cianfrance helmed dark fare including The Place Beyond the Pines, Sound of Metal, and HBO’s limited series I Know This Much Is True. When Cianfrance came upon the true crime misadventures of a North Carolina burglar, he co-wrote Roofman (now in theaters), cast Channing Tatum in the title role opposite Kirsten Dunst, and re-united with Parekh to capture the breezy vibe inspired by the stranger-than-fiction anti-hero Jeffrey Manchester, who drilled through roofs to rob several dozen McDonald’s outlets in the late nineties, then hid for months in a Toys “R” Us store after escaping prison.

Describing his rapport with Cianfrance, Parekh says, “Before Blue Valentine, we spent a lot of time together, in museums, looking at photography, making TV commercials. You’ve got to put that kind of time in with someone to get to the point where you can work together and not speak. That kind of understanding is a tremendous asset during production when the clock is ticking and you only have a certain amount of time on set.”

Talking to The Credits from his Brooklyn home, Parekh explains why he operates the camera himself, makes the case for shooting Roofman on Super 35 film, and reveals his most surprising moment on set as delivered by Channing Tatum.

What did you see as your key challenge in making a film based on this larger-than-life anti-hero?

We really tried to get inside the mind of Channing Tatum’s character, Jeffrey Manchester. He’s seductive, charismatic, and a total showman. Derek cast a lot of people in the film who actually knew Manchester, so we had a lot of different insights. He’s like a weird Rubik’s cube, showing a different facet to every person he knows.

How did you want to capture this multifaceted personality through your choice of camera gear and film stock?

Derek and I like to work very light and very quickly. It’s a kind of trick to get rid of the apparatus of filmmaking, because we’re both very performance-oriented, and all that stuff just gets in the way. So, in figuring out the most effective way to make this period piece, set in the ’90s, we both felt like shooting on film was the right choice.

How did that decision go over with the studio folks?

We had all kinds of constraints and budget issues, but magically, we were able to do it. Film, I think, has an indescribable quality. It’s much better for an actor’s skin tone, and I love the magic of dailies. We had focus issues sometimes, which you never find out about until the next day, but I love not knowing, I love being pleasantly surprised.

Film stock?

[Kodak Vision3 500 T] 5219. Super 35 is an amazing format. I love the grain and the beautiful imperfections. With digital, you sit and pick at the monitor and try to make things perfect, whereas with film, you just trust it and go.

What camera did you use?

The Arricam LT, which is one of my favorite cameras because it sits on your shoulder like it’s part of your body. A lot of this movie is hand-held.

And you operated the camera yourself?

Yes, I love to operate. When the camera’s on my eye, I feel very alive, very connected to the moment, to the actor, to the material. I have no idea where the camera’s going to go because I’m in the zone. It’s like I’m dancing with the actors. Of course, there’s a shot list and blah blah blah, but when you’re in the moment, the camera’s going to do what the camera’s going to do, and I just guide it along. And I think handheld operating can do wonders for a performance.

There’s a certain warmth to Roofman…

Well, I’ve got the focus puller right next to me, I can whisper in their ear. Derek is usually sitting right next to me when I’m operating. Film is more communal as opposed to digital, where the DP is in his own DIT tent and the director’s in a Video Village looking at monitors.

When you arrived to make this movie in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the real events took place, what kind of reception did you get from the local filmmaking community?

We were incredibly welcome in North Carolina. We had amazing key grips, the gaffer was an ex-Charlotte guy who’d moved to L.A. and then came back to Charlotte. A lot of the camera department and the art department are from Raleigh Durham or Wilmington. Shooting in Charlotte was wonderful.

Plus, the locations must add significant texture to the story.

In terms of a modern American film, Charlotte has so much to offer. It’s got strip malls, gas stations, churches, and gun shops, right? It’s America. For me, locations are to a DP as actors are to a director. They need to be cast very specifically.

SPOILER

The star location here has to be the Toys “R” Us store where Jeffrey hides out for several months after escaping from prison. Given your preference for simple set-ups, how did you light the space?

We found an abandoned Toys “R” Us that had gone out of business probably 12 or 15 years ago, and all the fluorescent lights were still there. We replaced the burned-out bulbs with original lights from that era — T-8s at 4300 Kelvin —and shot under those bulbs. We only had one additional lamp, an F-60 on a stand. Our production designer, Inbal Weinberg, rebuilt the store using the same colors, tiles, and the standing shelves. We shot Roofman as if you’d walked into a Toys “R” Us and started making a documentary.

Basically, you’re working with available light.

What I love about not having lights on the floor is that you can point the camera 360 and follow the actor. For Derek and for me, it’s really important to give actors freedom. You can’t do that if you have a bunch of lights in the way. Actors are like plants. They know where the light is. And if the actors don’t have to think about where the light is, I think it changes performance.

If I understand correctly, you sometimes roll camera during rehearsals even before Derek officially says “Action.”

Derek never says “Action.” And he never says “Cut.” [laughing] It’s usually the roll out of the camera [running out of film] that is calling the cuts.

So how do people on set know when a scene actually starts?

Derek just tells the actors, “Go ahead, whenever you’re ready.” There’s no decisive action, no decisive cut, it’s all just sort of in-between, and everything that’s been committed to film is fair game.

Channing Tatum’s performance as Jeffrey Manchester is like nothing he’s done before. Working with him day after day, what did you see him bring to the table?

Aside from being talented, handsome, and incredibly in shape, Channing works really hard. He shows up on time, knows his stuff, and does everything Derek asks of him. Sometimes we’d do take after take after take, and he never complained. No laziness, no sense of being the “star” on set. He’s there as an actor.

Looking back on the making of Roofman, what stands out as a peak moment, when maybe things took an unexpected turn?

A turn I didn’t expect? The scene where Channing is naked and confronts Peter Dinklage [laughing]. I saw all sides of him, so that was something I didn’t expect! Channing was willing to go for it, trusting Derek, trusting me, being in this very vulnerable position. I also found the last scene in the film between Channing and Kirsten [Dunst] to be magical. Again, you see how he’s willing to not hold back, to step out of himself and become this character. There’s not a dry eye in the theater.

Featured image: Channing Tatum stars in Paramount Pictures’ “ROOFMAN.”