Channing Tatum & Kirsten Dunst Confess Nerves Meeting on ‘Roofman’ Set (Exclusive)

Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst are dishing on their new film “Roofman,” in which he plays a former soldier and professional thief who escapes from prison and finds a hideout inside a Toys “R” Us. When he falls for a divorced mom, his double life starts to unravel as his past closes in.

“Extra’s” Derek Hough spoke with Channing and Kirsten, who recalled how they met for the first time right before doing their first scene.

Channing said, “She doesn’t remember but I did meet her very quickly… We just shook each other’s hands… We didn’t meet, like, technically and never, ever really had a conversation, and then Derek kept us apart from each other until the very moment that walked on screen together for the first time.”

They shot their first scene together at a Red Lobster.

Kirsten recalled, “That was the first time we locked eyes… There was, like, two cameras on us. ‘They’re nervous. Let’s get it.’ Got genuine nerves.”

Channing asked, “Wouldn’t you be nervous to act with Kirsten Dunst?”

Kirsten admitted, “It was nerve-wracking for me. You were like getting your looks done at base camp. I couldn’t go in and I’d, like, sneak to craft services and I felt like a stalker because I’d be like, ‘I hear him. I hope he’s nice. Chill.’”

Channing added, “It’s a wild experience when you have to be that kind of intimate with each other without having a conversation first.”

They were both fans of each other’s work. 

Channing raved about Kirsten’s role at the age of 11 in “Interview with the Vampire,” starring Hollywood icons Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

He gushed, “I still don’t understand how she blew two of the biggest movie stars in our history off of the freaking screen, man. Like they didn’t have nothing for her.”

Referencing his daughter Everly, Channing went on, “I have like a 12-year-old right now and I couldn’t imagine her doing that.”

Kirsten and Channing are both parents and it impacted how they took on the roles in “Roofman.”

Dunst explained, “Lee has two teenage daughters. I mean, I just immediately know the responsibility and, you know, a lot of mother’s instinct goes into, like, why she wants to protect her kids from when she meets Jeff and the whole interaction is very complicated because you have children, which is good. It enriches everything immediately. I could relate because I have two kids.”

Kirsten also had some parenting advice for Derek, who is going to be a first-time dad. She said, “Keep your kids away from YouTube, that changed my kids when I took that away… and as long as you can with the iPad.”

Channing chimed in, “Only use the iPad on an airplane.”

Kirsten continued, “Don’t let them get up and walk back and forth, ’cause once you set that precedence of you can walk down and up the aisles, you’re done and no phones [at] restaurants. Suffer through bad meals because now my kids can sit through, like, really long meals.”

"Bring a bag of crayons and sh*t," she added. "You know, cars, whatever." She emphasized, "I wanna make kids that can talk to me."