{"id":515040,"date":"2026-06-02T17:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/515040\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T17:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:15:16","slug":"learn-about-the-origins-of-backrooms-from-the-man-who-unknowingly-inspired-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/515040\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn About the Origins of ‘Backrooms’ From the Man Who Unknowingly Inspired It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine finding out that your work is the inspiration for the $80 million movie the whole world is talking about<\/a>. That\u2019s what happened recently when Mr. Robot creator<\/a> Sam Esmail sat down for a chat with Backrooms director Kane Parsons.<\/a><\/p>\n

Esmail is like a lot of us. He\u2019s seen and loved the new movie<\/a> but didn\u2019t know a lot about Parsons, how he became a filmmaker, the origins of Backrooms, and more. And so, when the two sat down, Esmail was very surprised to hear that not only does Parsons love Mr. Robot<\/a>,\u00a0he\u2019s watched it at least eight times through in the past five years<\/a>, and it made him want to make Backrooms.<\/p>\n

Below, io9 can exclusively reveal the full transcript of this conversation, where we learn what it was about Mr. Robot that Parsons loved so much, how he got his start, and why he wanted to be a filmmaker. We also learn that his filmmaking aspirations didn\u2019t come from being a fan of movies in a traditional way and ultimately that he sees Backrooms more as a TV series than a film franchise. Though that was before opening weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fascinating chat between two artists filled with admiration and curiosity. Check it out.<\/p>\n

\"BackroomsParsons on set. \u2013 A24 <\/p>\n

Kane Parsons, director of Backrooms:<\/strong> Do you look back on the entire process of Mr. Robot as a fond one of personal exploration?<\/p>\n

Sam Esmail, creator of Mr. Robot:<\/strong> Well, look, it\u2019s obviously near and dear to my heart because it\u2019s the thing that made my career. It made me a legitimate filmmaker, at least one who gets paid. But it was brutal, man. I mean, it\u2019s a TV show which is very different from feature filmmaking because you\u2019re shooting lots of \u201ccontent\u201d under a short amount of time. And you\u2019re doing it every year for four years. And that\u2019s the big takeaway.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> That\u2019s sort of what I wanted to know. Not to jump too far ahead, but I\u2019ve always had it in my brain that Backrooms as a series, as a serialized IP. And I hate talking about it in that way, but I do consider it in that way.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Of course.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I mean, in my mind, from the outside, a series feels like the right way to tackle the bit that I actually care about tackling.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> So did it feel as\u2026<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> This film feels like a foot in the door that I like, but it doesn\u2019t feel like it gets to the\u2026 it feels like to try to get to the meat that I would be really excited about; it just would be too much to spring on an audience for a first film. And that\u2019s maybe a common sentiment of filmmakers trying to adapt to the internet and all that kind of stuff. But I do feel that way a little bit.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Would you ever consider making it into a TV series?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Well, that\u2019s without a doubt the thing I\u2019ve been trying to campaign for for a few years.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Wow, interesting.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> But\u2026<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Would you do the crazy thing of directing every episode?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Well, that\u2019s what I need to figure out. On paper, I would love to. I had been doing, on this film, like 21-hour work days on and off, alternating, because that\u2019s not sustainable. But like with this film, I can\u2019t imagine things being more insane than it was, because we had a crazy crunch on this one. There was not a minute spent on any day that wasn\u2019t for this film. And I felt fine with that. So I think I would go insane with the way creative control sort of gets dissolved and whatnot. Just being careful with that.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> I just think, look. Because I\u2019ve had a lot of people in the industry, actually big directors, up-and-coming directors, come to me and ask me, \u201cShould I direct the whole season of television?\u201d And my answer is always \u201cNo, no, absolutely not.\u201d Because it is pretty fucking taxing. Just in every way imaginable, physical, mental, emotional.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> You\u2019re not selling me on this because I was not there. I am not in your brain. But on the outside, I feel it worked out creatively to a degree but it\u2019s always going to be different on the other side.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Esmail with his Mr. Robot stars Rami Malek and Christian Slater at NYCC 2025. \u2013 Jason Mendez\/Getty Images for ReedPop <\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> But the thing is, when I was in it, I remember thinking there was no other way to do it. And I love TV as a format, but most television shows are directed by multiple directors. And I just don\u2019t understand how you can keep the consistency of tone and visual language when you do that. I mean, they literally have tone meetings where you spend an hour talking to the incoming director. And I\u2019m like, how are you explaining the tone of a story or television show in an hour to a person that\u2019s just walking in? Now, shows have done that, but I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a singular sort of identity to a show like I think Mr. Robot had. Just in my mind, I found it to be very hard. Very tricky. And I did it in the first season, and I had lovely directors that came in and did a great job, but it just to me\u2026<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> And, again, I hope I don\u2019t embarrass myself saying this. I have seen Mr. Robot like eight or nine times.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Whoa. The whole series?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> The whole series, all the way through.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Wow. OK.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> You can show me any frame from any episode, and I\u2019ll know what [episode it\u2019s from].<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> You know, that\u2019s probably, well, I\u2019ve seen every episode.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I\u2019m an obsessive kind [of person.] I find something I like, and then I really engage with it. But I don\u2019t consume a lot of stuff.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> By the way, I heard that about you. You don\u2019t really watch a lot of movies, right?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Not a lot. No. This summer I\u2019m trying to engage with it a bit more. \u201cClassically\u201d-referred films and whatnot. Stuff that I probably really should be aware of.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Yeah. But what was it about Mr. Robot that got you?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I don\u2019t even remember my first\u2026 I think I probably found a clip on YouTube or something in 2021, which is when I started it.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Oh, so you started it after it had already aired.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah, it was already done, so I was able to go through the whole thing. So it\u2019s like eight times just since 2021.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Wow. OK.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Again, I\u2019m embarrassing myself saying that. But I think I enjoy living in the world of it. And like the tone that sort of gets soaked up. It feels very in line with the way that my\u2014this is a thing I\u2019m sure a lot of people say\u2014but it just feels complementary to the way I like to try to feel reality in general.<\/p>\n

\"Backrooms\u00a9 A24 <\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> So were you were you already making Backrooms while you were watching it, or when you first started watching?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No, it kind of made me want to make Backrooms. [Embarrassed chuckle]<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Are you serious? Oh, that\u2019s so interesting.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I was working on the first short film. I don\u2019t know how much of the stuff on YouTube you\u2019re aware of at all.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Yeah, I started watching it after. I didn\u2019t know about it until after I saw the film.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah, I did like a first short film, which is the one that has, like, all the views and all the everything. I made it as kind of like a tech demo for fun, just kind of playing around with Blender. I don\u2019t mean to undermine it, but it was kind of\u2026<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> That\u2019s pretty impressive, man. I don\u2019t think I could do that. Especially, how old were you when you did that?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I was 16. But it\u2019s also like you\u2019re growing up with the software, and the software is really fucking good. But I appreciate it. I have a hard time taking credit for it.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> So you started playing with it when you were 16. Making it in Blender. And you did one video.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah. I had done that video, but I had a little story in my brain for a little bit. I think the three things that I consumed that sort of gelled to propel me to really make the series [were] probably like Channel Four\u2019s Utopia, Mr. Robot, and then Devs.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> I fucking loved Devs.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I have notes about Devs, but I do love Devs.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Can I say something? I\u2019ve never seen Utopia.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Oh, really?<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Is it great?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Do people bring it up?<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> They have brought it up. Yeah, I have heard that there are similarities stylistically, but I\u2019ve actually never seen it. I did try to watch the remake.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> The one on Amazon.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Yeah. But I couldn\u2019t get a hold of it for the longest time.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> It\u2019s all on YouTube. The whole thing\u2019s on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Esmail at the premiere of his 2023 movie, Leave the World Behind. \u2013 Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Netflix <\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Now that you\u2019re recommending it, I will watch it. The other one I always get is [Neon Genesis Evangelion]. Do you watch that? I keep hearing that too.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I feel so much shame for not having seen it because I feel it\u2019s hailed as a classic, and I\u2019ve seen so much from it that seems compelling, but I\u2019ve [never] actually gone and given it a chance.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> But wait, so when you made your first video, is that the one that just got like a gazillion\u2026<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah, that\u2019s the one that got a gazillion. And then the next few ones did really well as well. But very much like a sharp fall off because I think that first one was like 77 million views now. And then the ones behind it are like\u2026<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> And you just uploaded to YouTube?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> It\u2019s not like you had any marketing machine behind it.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No marketing, no desire for marketing.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> How did it take off? Like, when did you notice it started getting really crazy?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Within a week.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> But how?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> So I had a following on YouTube. I don\u2019t know\u2014are you aware of Attack on Titan as a franchise?<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> That\u2019s another one that they keep saying.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> That\u2019s a great one. That\u2019s another case of like a pretty consistent, long-standing, like, over a decade or so.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> OK. I\u2019ve never seen it. So I should see that. I\u2019ve got a lot to see now. Now you\u2019re the one recommending stuff. OK, good. So what did you have to do with that?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I was doing those ones when I was like 14 and 15, first getting the hang of Blender. And that\u2019s a series that takes place in sort of like an alternate history.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Wait, this is your show?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No. No, I do not own Attack on Titan.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> But what are you saying you did?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I did a series of videos on YouTube that were sort of recounting or addressing little moments in that franchise that I found like\u2026 It\u2019s an anime property. So the fan base gets a little fixated on hype, treating it like a little more grand and magical than it really is. And I wanted to do stuff that kind of sucked anything but just the realism out of it. And just like this was real, and there are people with cameras on the ground, just miscellaneous.<\/p>\n

\"BackroomsParsons and his crew. \u2013 A24 <\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> So you recreated scenes?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Just like little scenes, like little moments that people would recognize. But from a very different perspective. And so that caught on largely with, like, largely Philippine and Indonesian audiences.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> [Chuckles] And again, these are just YouTube clips.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah, very short videos, and they were only there for Attack on Titan. So I thought if I did anything else, it would flop. But I kind of just exhausted it. I had done so much of it over the course of 2021 that I was done. I wanted to try doing something else.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> And so you released this to that same following, Backrooms, and within a week it broke out of that.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah, because I think there were so many people\u2026 like I wasn\u2019t like trying for this. I wasn\u2019t like scratching like the Mr. Beast part of my brain, trying to orchestrate something there. But was aware that the Backrooms was a sort of powder keg\u2026 not [a] meme. It was planted. It was very seeded. But like, lots of people were broadly aware of the concept and the kind of aesthetic pool that it was drawing from. But no one had actually gone and given it focus in some way. So I think I can appreciate that that\u2019s sort of what that first short did. Now it\u2019s not just photos and text, little short stories and stuff. It\u2019s an actual visual piece.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Did you want to be a filmmaker before this?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Oh, yeah. Yeah. I did. I\u2019ve got the normal\u2014I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s \u201cnormal\u201d\u2014but like the fairly typical \u201cWhen I was six, I would grab cameras and stop motion\u201d and do all sorts of stuff. And I\u2019ve just been trying to do better versions of that ever since.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> So what made you want to be a filmmaker back then?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> It precedes consciousness.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> You weren\u2019t watching tons of movies or anything.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No, it definitely was not seeing [movies]. I think this is cheesy to say. I just really am\u2026 What would it be? I\u2019m trying to find better and better ways to articulate this because I know there\u2019s something to it. I just think it\u2019s a general curiosity. I am a very curious person in general. I think a lot of people are. But I very much enjoy being alive and being curious about things and asking questions. And I think that it just feels like a natural way to try [and use] art to process things. I\u2019m trying to use the technical medium of audio and visual.<\/p>\n

\"BackroomsRenate Reinsve in Backrooms. \u2013 A24 <\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> What was your first camcorder? Was it a phone?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No, it wasn\u2019t a phone.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> You\u2019re pretty young.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> It would\u2019ve been like a tiny digicam.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Like one of those still cameras that records video.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah. I don\u2019t remember exactly because I would have been so young. But I went through a few of those.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> And were you doing narrative? Were you shooting narrative?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I probably started calling myself, saying I wanted to be a film director, when I was like 10 or 11 or so. And I was doing short films that were narrative, but like, they wander and they don\u2019t make sense to me.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> They\u2019re more abstract.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> But you said at 10 you were like, \u201cI want to be a film director,\u201d but you weren\u2019t watching films. So how did you even know?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No, I was. I was watching film and television and like animated stuff. Stuff like Doctor Who or something like that. Stuff that I was very into, and I was very into the Valve properties like Portal and Half-Life. And so I was like trying to draw from that and other short films on YouTube based on that.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> So it was that a lot of YouTube stuff and less going to the movie theater?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> Yes. I did not go to the movie theater all that much growing up. I enjoy it. It\u2019s one of my favorite things to go do in general, but I don\u2019t really do it very much.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Interesting. And that\u2019s not part of the reason why you want to be a filmmaker, is to have your movie play in a theater?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> No, not at all\u2026 but I do think that being aware of the fact that when I make a like an hour-long short film that is made to look like it\u2019s on someone\u2019s iPhone and it\u2019s like uncut found footage but it\u2019s all CGI in reality\u2014I\u2019m not talking about Backrooms, just other projects I did like that\u2014the intention is, I think, the ideal viewing experience is on a phone and with the awareness that they will be able to fast-forward. And ultimately, they will probably be curious enough to go look at another person explain this video. And so I think if you know what the end destination of the delivery device is, then there\u2019s the best, most optimal way to do that as well. So I think, honestly, I was more inspired by and excited by experience curation, like ARGs and stuff.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Interesting. We had a lot of ARG for Mr. Robot, but you missed all of it.<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I missed all of it.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> Are you going to do that on Backrooms?<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think Backrooms makes sense because I feel like I\u2019ve already given up the game, and it\u2019s very clearly a fictional project. And these like to never say it\u2019s anything but nonfiction.<\/p>\n

Esmail:<\/strong> I see. So it only works in your mind if you could if you can keep [the illusion].<\/p>\n

Parsons:<\/strong> It\u2019s like either you do it or you don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

Backrooms is now in theaters. Mr. Robot is currently not available to stream anywhere, though it is available for purchase. (Or just contact Kane Parsons; we\u2019re sure he has a copy.)<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine finding out that your work is the inspiration for the $80 million movie the whole world is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[186311,18,117,19,17,186309,327,143889,143828],"class_list":["post-515040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-backrooms","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kane-parsons","tag-movies","tag-mr-robot","tag-sam-esmail"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116681647059266861","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}