Mark Duplass pushed back Tuesday against social media speculation over who really directed Backrooms, defending 20-year-old filmmaker Kane Parsons after one user wrote that Parsons “absolutely did not direct the movie.” Duplass said he did not remember seeing the user on set and added that, when he was there, Parsons was “100% in control.”
“More so than many directors 3x his age,” Duplass wrote, sharpening a response that quickly turned into a defense of the film’s youngest feature director. Backrooms, an A24 horror feature due in theaters Friday, stars Duplass alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell.
Parsons, who is 20, first began uploading the YouTube series that inspired the movie in early 2022, while he was still a teenager. The original series was built around the eerie internet mythology of an infinite maze of rooms, and the film uses that existing material and online lore as a jumping-off point to examine its characters rather than simply replay the same premise.
That approach has helped make Parsons a focus of attention well beyond the film itself. At a recent discussion at CCXP Mexico, he said the team built 30,000 square feet of actual backrooms and described the film as “a pretty lonely film.” He also said, “It does take more of a specific approach, where you’re seeing it through the lens of these specific characters — these individuals living these atomized, lonely lives,” and added, “In the film, there is rarely a moment where there’s more than one or two characters on screen at a given time.”
The speculation around Parsons’ role comes with a familiar edge. The film’s producers include James Wan, Shawn Levy and Osgood Perkins, and the project is co-financed by A24 and Chernin Entertainment, a combination that has fueled online chatter about how much control a young creator could have on a studio feature. Similar claims have also been directed at Curry Barker in connection with Obsession, suggesting a broader skepticism that often shadows YouTube creators moving into film.
Duplass’ response cuts straight through that doubt. Backrooms will have its chance to settle the question on Friday, when audiences see for themselves whether the 20-year-old newcomer was, as Duplass put it, really in charge.
