Mark Duplass Defends Backrooms Director Kane Parsons After Ghost-Directing Rumors Spread Online

A24’s upcoming horror film Backrooms is already carrying big expectations. Now it is carrying a controversy too.

The film is directed by Kane Parsons, the young creator who turned the viral internet horror concept into a massive YouTube phenomenon under the name Kane Pixels. Parsons is only 20, and that has become part of the movie’s story. It is also why the online rumor machine started moving.

In recent days, speculation spread across social media that Parsons did not really direct Backrooms himself, and that a more experienced filmmaker, especially Osgood Perkins, may have quietly guided or “ghost directed” the film. The claim grew loud enough that actor Mark Duplass, who appears in the movie, stepped in to shut it down.

Duplass said Parsons was fully in control on set. He did not leave room for much interpretation.

According to reports, Duplass said, “When I was there, Kane was 100% in control. More so than many directors three times his age.”

That is the headline.

The internet saw a young director and assumed he could not have done the job. Someone who was actually there says the opposite.

How the Rumor Started

The rumor appears to have grown from a mix of three things: Parsons’ age, his lack of traditional feature-film experience, and the fact that experienced horror filmmakers were around the production.

Parsons became famous online after releasing The Backrooms (Found Footage) on YouTube in 2022. The short film presented a nightmare world of empty yellow rooms, buzzing fluorescent lights, endless hallways, and the terrifying idea that someone could “no-clip” out of normal reality into a dead, impossible space. The video went viral and became the foundation for a larger online series.

That success led to A24 developing a feature version. Parsons became the director, making him one of the youngest filmmakers ever to lead an A24 feature. The movie stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell, with A24 backing the project for a theatrical release.

But for some viewers online, the jump seemed too big.

A teenager made viral YouTube horror.
Then he got an A24 feature.
Then major actors joined.
Then big producers entered the picture.

That made people suspicious. Not because they had proof. Because the story felt unusual.

That is how bad internet theories start. They fill the gap between “rare” and “impossible.”

Osgood Perkins’ Real Role

The core rumor claimed that Osgood Perkins, the filmmaker behind movies such as Longlegs, had really directed or heavily controlled Backrooms behind the scenes.

That claim has been denied.

World of Reel reported that the rumor had gone far enough that Duplass responded publicly. The same report said crew members who worked on Backrooms laughed off the idea and described Parsons as mature and prepared.

There is one part of the discussion that is true: Parsons did receive mentorship.

Parsons himself said he worked closely with Perkins during production in Vancouver and described Perkins as an important mentor. He also said he was able to lean on the crew and resources Perkins and producer Chris Ferguson had helped build over the years.

That is not the same as ghost directing.

Mentorship means support.
Ghost directing means someone else secretly made the film.

Those are completely different claims.

This is where the debate got sloppy. A young director being helped by experienced people is not a scandal. It is how filmmaking usually works. Every first-time feature director leans on producers, cinematographers, assistant directors, actors, editors, and crew. That is the job. Film is collaborative.

The issue is whether Parsons was actually making the decisions.

Duplass says he was.

Mark Duplass Says Parsons Did Not Need Saving

Duplass’ defense matters because he is not just a random cast member.

He has worked as an actor, writer, producer, and filmmaker for years. He has also supported many young directors throughout his career. In his comments, he reportedly said he suspected one reason he may have been hired was because he often mentors young filmmakers and could help if needed.

But according to Duplass, that help was not necessary.

He said Parsons did not need people stepping in to save the production. The message was simple: the young director had the set under control.

That is a strong endorsement because it attacks the rumor at its weakest point. The rumor depends on the idea that Parsons was too young or too inexperienced to lead. Duplass’ response says his age did not stop him from doing the work.

That does not mean Parsons had no support. It means support did not replace authorship.

Why Age Became the Story

The backlash also exposes something bigger about Hollywood and online culture.

People say they want new voices. Then when a new voice gets a major opportunity, they often decide it must be fake.

Parsons’ age is part of why Backrooms is interesting. He came from YouTube, not a film-school-to-indie-to-studio pipeline. He built an audience by making something that felt strange, cheap, unsettling, and internet-native. That is exactly why A24 wanted him.

The Backrooms did not begin as a traditional movie idea. It came from online horror culture, creepypasta, liminal spaces, gaming language, and found-footage aesthetics. Parsons understood that world because he came from it.

That is the value.

A studio could have hired a veteran horror director to imitate the internet. Instead, A24 hired someone who helped define the specific version of the mythology that fans connected with.

That is risky. But it is also the point.

The Film Is Built Around a Huge Physical Set

The film is also notable because it turns a digital-born horror idea into a large physical space.

Reports say the production built a massive 30,000-square-foot Backrooms set. Chiwetel Ejiofor reportedly said he assumed something like that had already been built before because the online material felt so real, but the set was the first physical representation of that scale.

Renate Reinsve has also described the set as deeply unsettling. She said she was concerned she might go “a little insane” while filming inside the labyrinth-like environment and did not want to walk through it alone.

That matters because Backrooms is not just a monster movie. The horror comes from space itself. Endless rooms. Wrong geometry. Fluorescent hum. No exits. No normal rules.

Building that for real gives the film a different weight.

It also shows why a director with a strong visual understanding of the original concept would matter.

What Backrooms Is About

The movie expands the online concept into a feature story. According to reports, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Clark, a furniture store owner who discovers a surreal, endless dimension after his wife leaves him. Reinsve plays therapist Dr. Mary Kline.

The film is expected to keep the psychological and spatial horror that made Parsons’ YouTube work popular, while expanding it for theaters.

That is not an easy job.

The original Backrooms idea works partly because it is mysterious and incomplete. A feature film has to give audiences more structure without killing the fear. Too much explanation ruins the dream. Too little story can feel empty.

That is the challenge Parsons now faces.

A24’s Risk Could Pay Off

Backrooms is reportedly set for release on May 29. World of Reel reported that the film was tracking for a strong opening weekend, with estimates above $50 million, though review embargo details were still unusual at the time of reporting.

If that tracking holds, A24 could have a major horror hit built from internet culture rather than a traditional franchise. That would be important.

Hollywood has spent years trying to mine online culture, but it often does it badly. It turns memes into products and loses what made them work. Backrooms is different because the person who helped make the modern version famous is the person directing the movie.

That gives it authenticity.

It also gives it pressure.

The Bottom Line

The rumor that Kane Parsons did not really direct Backrooms says more about the internet than it does about the film.

People saw a 20-year-old director leading a major A24 horror movie and decided there had to be someone older behind the curtain. Mark Duplass, who was on set, says that is not what happened.

The clear facts are these:

• Kane Parsons directed A24’s Backrooms.
• The film is based on the viral internet horror concept he helped popularize on YouTube.
• Online rumors claimed Osgood Perkins may have ghost directed the film.
• Mark Duplass publicly denied that claim.
• Parsons has acknowledged Perkins was a mentor, but mentorship is not ghost directing.
• The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell.
• The production built a massive 30,000-square-foot Backrooms set.
• Backrooms is scheduled for theatrical release on May 29.

This is the real story.

A young filmmaker got the keys to a major horror project. People questioned whether he could drive. The people who were there say he did.

Now the movie has to answer the only question that matters.

Not whether Kane Parsons was old enough.

Whether the film works.

Colleen Sturtevant / WikiPortraits