Why Phil From Backrooms Looks So Familiar

A24

Director Kane Parsons has made the transition from YouTube to Hollywood. Taking "The Backrooms," which traces its origins to online forums, and turning it into a successful series of YouTube Shorts paved the way for a feature film from A24. Now, "Backrooms" is poised to become one of the biggest, most talked-about horror movies of the year.

In the movie, a peculiar doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom. Strange and horrific happenings ensue. The cast is led by Oscar-nominees Chiewetel Ejiofor ("12 Years a Slave," "The Martian") and Renate Reinsve ("The Worst Person in the World," "Sentimental Value"). But they're far from the only people in the cast, as Parsons needed several more humans to help fill out the strange, yellow, liminal spaces that make up the Backrooms.

One of those actors is Mark Duplass, who plays Phil in the movie. Phil is part of the skin-crawling, liminal nightmare that is "Backrooms." Those who have seen the movie may well have had that "he looks familiar" feeling upon seeing Phil. There's more than a few good reasons for that, as Duplass has been a lot of places and done a lot of things throughout his career. Over the last 20 years or so, he's been an actor, writer, producer, and director, one who actually has some things in common with Parsons.

Alongside his brother Jay Duplass, he got his start making short films before branching into features such as "The Puffy Chair," "Baghead," "Cyrus," and "Jeff, Who Lives at Home." Duplass had on-screen roles in some of those early movies as well. The Duplass brothers even turned down a Marvel movie, but their reputation was such that Marvel Studios offered them one in the first place.

Shudder

Quite a few filmmakers have looked to the Duplass brothers for inspiration, and they are generally pretty big on helping that community. Viewers are far more likely to actually recognize Mark Duplass from his on-screen work as an actor, though, of which there is a lot to choose from.

Some of his earlier movie roles include "Safety Not Guaranteed," "Zero Dark Thirty," and "The One I Love," among others. On the TV side, though, Duplass gained initial notoriety as one of the main cast members of "The League," an FX comedy about fantasy football. That show ran for seven seasons from 2009 to 2015, giving him significant exposure. So there's a decent chance a lot of people will recognize him as Pete Eckhart.

Duplass is also a favorite amongst horror fans, in no small part due to his work as the writer and star of the "Creep" franchise. While Duplass wishes that "Creep 2" had turned out better, there's no denying that these found-footage horror tales are fan favorites, with Peachfuzz becoming something of a modern horror icon. Most recently, Duplass reprised the role in "The Creep Tapes" on Shudder. He also starred in "The Lazarus Project" on the horror front.

Over the last several years, Duplass has gained considerable acclaim for his role as Chip Black on Apple TV's "The Morning Show." Some of his other notable roles from throughout his career include "Togetherness," "The Mindy Project," "Paddleton," "Goliath," and "Bombshell," among others. Duplass has also lent his voice to animated shows such as "Animals," "Big Mouth," and "Mating Season."

"Backrooms" is in theaters now.