BACKROOMS Star Mark Duplass Shuts Down Claims the Movie Was “Ghost Directed” by Its Producers
There’s been a weird rumor floating around online about Backrooms, the upcoming A24 horror movie directed by 20-year-old filmmaker Kane Parsons.
Because the film has heavyweight producers attached like James Wan, Shawn Levy, and Osgood Perkins, some people have convinced themselves that Parsons couldn’t have possibly been the one actually calling the shots.
Apparently, the internet has decided that if a young filmmaker makes something impressive, there has to be an older, more experienced director secretly pulling the strings.
One of the movie’s stars, Mark Duplass, wasn’t having any of it. The conversation kicked off after someone posted on X: “Promising but we all know Kane Parsons absolutely didn’t direct this movie. But the needle is moving in the right direction.”
Duplass jumped in with a direct response, writing: “Hmmm, with all due respect I don't remember seeing you on set. When I was there, Kane was 100% in control. More so than many directors 3x his age.”
That alone would’ve probably been enough, but Duplass later went further in an Instagram video where he addressed the rumor head-on and explained exactly what he witnessed while making the film.
“So a lot of takes going around right now about whether Kane Parsons at the tender age of 19 actually directed the Backrooms or whether it was more ghost directed by one of his more experienced producers,” Duplass said.
“I was there, I suspect one of the reasons I was hired is because I mentor a lot of young filmmakers and they may have thought it would be good to have someone there who is sensitive to that and I was prepared to help out.”
Instead, according to Duplass, Parsons came in completely locked in. “What happened was he didn't need any of us. He was intensely prepared.
“He spent the last five years of his life building out one of the most detailed mythologies I've ever been a part of, worked incredibly closely with his crew, particularly his DP and shot design, and was very sensitive and calm and smart dealing with actors. So for those of you who have all these thoughts, were you there?”
Parsons already built a massive following with his Backrooms YouTube series, proving he understands this unsettling universe better than anybody else. The whole reason the movie exists is because studios saw what he was capable of creating.
The film itself is shaping up to be one of A24’s biggest horror releases in a while. Inspired by the creepypasta phenomenon and Parsons’ viral web series, Backrooms follows characters played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve as they navigate a surreal nightmare dimension filled with endless empty office spaces and something much worse lurking inside them.
Early box office tracking has the sci-fi horror film looking like a major hit, which makes the online skepticism feel even stranger.