“Backrooms is like Stanley Kubrick on crack.” That was Famke Janssen’s verdict on the horror film, delivered at a masterclass in Malta last week, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The actress, best known as Jean Grey in the X-Men films, appeared on June 25, 2026, at the Mediterrane Film Festival in Valletta. The trade paper reported that she called the success of “Backrooms” director Kane Parsons and “Obsession” maker Curry Barker “paradigm shifting.”
“They just took their own careers in their hands”
Janssen said the two are young men who built their own audiences on YouTube. “They had a vision and didn’t go to a studio with their cup asking for money,” she said, adding that they made, for very little money, movies that are “incredibly creative, entertaining and found huge audiences.” She also stressed that the films are “analog,” not “AI driven or CGI heavy.”
To make her point, she singled out the practical sets in “Backrooms,” which featured a real-life labyrinth rather than digital corridors.
Should Parsons direct an X-Men film?
The moderator, Vanity Fair’s John Ross, put the question directly: should Parsons get a shot at directing an X-Men installment? “Absolutely,” Janssen answered. She argued that the pair’s success “just opened a door, not just for them, but for other people to say, ‘We don’t have to go with this old-fashioned system where we make a movie for $300 million.’”
Nothing in the report suggests Marvel has discussed such a job with Parsons. Janssen was giving her opinion, not announcing a plan.
Her own return
Ross also asked whether Janssen would ever come back to the franchise herself. She was open but gave no commitment. “I’m always open to any opportunity or role or reprising something I’ve done when there’s something good to play and I can do something with it,” she said.
Earlier in the trip, after an appearance at Spacecon 2026, she told Nerdtropolis that Marvel “made a mistake” by not bringing her back as Jean Grey for December’s Avengers: Doomsday. That subject did not come up at the festival session, which ran about 90 minutes and also covered her nerve-wracking audition for the Bond film GoldenEye.
Sources
- Famke Janssen Says 'Backrooms' Kane Parsons Should Direct 'X-Men' (The Hollywood Reporter, Chris Gardner)
- X-Men-Legende Famke Janssen: 'Backrooms'-Regisseur Kane Parsons soll Superheldenfilm drehen (Yahoo Nachrichten, German)
