Why Mark Duplass, Though?

A question I was wondering after Backrooms last night, but which didn’t fit into my other post, was why the movie included the subplot with Mark Duplass as a whiskery employee for a mysterious company. This isn’t a deep dive on the movie, and it’s definitely not a complaint about Duplass. I tend to be pro-him, for his evangelism of indie filmmaking, and his support/promotion of Vidiots. But it’s pretty hard to make the case that his character, and in fact his entire subplot, needs to be in this movie. As I understand it, the company appears in the later shorts, so it’s a reference for fans. And the whole idea of a secretive corporate entity conspiring with the government to cover up a huge existential threat does fit perfectly with the 90s vibe of the movie. The nice detail in Backrooms is that the movie takes time to establish that this is just a normal guy working for a company that used to be very normal. Having him as the face of the shadow organization helps it feel less like a…