Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) has inked a deal to star opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Backrooms, A24‘s sci-fi horror film based on the viral found-footage universe from filmmaker Kane Parson.
We were first to report on the project in 2023 and confirmed several weeks ago that Ejiofor was in talks to star. At the time, word was that he’d be share the screen with The Penguin‘s Cristin Milioti, though we’re told her deal didn’t end up making. Character details for both Reinsve and Ejofor are under wraps, as is the plot of the film, which is now officially greenlighted. Production is set to begin this summer.
Parsons’ “The Backrooms (Found Footage)” watches as a young filmmaker’s fall into another dimension leaves him wandering through an unsettlingly yellow, empty and labyrinthine office space, which may or may not be home to otherworldly beings. The film’s title and setting draw inspiration from the imagery of a creepypasta (or internet urban legend) published to the website 4chan in 2019. The short is the first in a series that have garnered over 190 million views online to date in total. A prodigy of a filmmaker and VFX artist, Parsons is now the youngest director in history to partner with A24, at just 19 years of age.
Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen and Dan Levine will produce the feature take for 21 Laps Entertainment, alongside Chris Ferguson for Oddfellows Pictures, as well as James Wan and Michael Clear for Atomic Monster. Judson Scott will exec produce for Atomic Monster, with Alayna Glasthal overseeing. Chris White brought the project to the company and will also exec produce, with Chernin Entertainment, part of The North Road Company, and A24 co-financing.
Reinsve is a Norwegian actress who broke out with her starring role in The Worst Person in the World, the 2021 film from Joachim Trier, for which she was awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s prize for Best Actress. Recently reteaming with Trier on the dramedy Sentimental Value, which garnered rave reviews in its Cannes premiere and won the festival’s Grand Prix, Reinsve’s upcoming slate also includes the Cristian Mungiu drama Fjord and Joe Talbot’s A24 pic The Governesses.
Previously, the actress has also been seen starring in Apple’s Presumed Innocent, A24’s A Different Man, Trier’s Oslo, August 31st and more. She is represented by CAA.
