I’m sure the phone has been ringing off the hook for Kane Parsons, who has become an overnight sensation in Hollywood—so much so that he and Curry Barker have effectively helped open the door for an innumerable amount of YouTube creators to now make the leap into the film industry.
Yesterday, in an interview with Matt Belloni, when asked which IP he would be most interested in adapting, “Backrooms” director Parsons hinted that there was a particular title he was considering.
We now know what he was referring to. Parsons told Kyle Buchanan that, “with a lot of caution and a lot of curiosity,” he was exploring the possibility of making a Portal movie. It is his dream project.
‘Portal’ is a first-person puzzle game in which players solve challenges by creating portals between surfaces to move through test chambers in a mysterious laboratory, using physics and logic to progress while being guided by an AI named GLaDOS. It likely influenced “Backrooms” and would be a natural fit for Parsons’ style.
In 2013, Valve revealed it was exploring the idea of developing a film adaptation of Portal. Later, J.J. Abrams joined the project, with Warner Bros. hiring a screenwriter to develop the film. Abrams still expressed optimism in 2021 that the Portal movie might eventually happen. However, it ultimately never came to fruition.
Whatever he does next, there has been considerable attention on 20-year-old Parsons, who broke through in a major way last weekend as the youngest director ever to reach No. 1 at the U.S. box office with the $81M opening of “Backrooms.”
Parsons recently confirmed that he is under contract with A24 for a “Backrooms” sequel. He is also working with Osgood Perkins on a secret new project, meaning there is no shortage of opportunities ahead — he simply has to decide what comes next.