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Exclusive: UTA has signed Pasqual Gutierrez, one of the filmmakers behind Sundance 2025’s Serious People, for representation in all areas.

Directed by Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson, Serious People is an experimental comedy following a music video director who, in anticipation of his first child’s arrival, hires a lookalike to take over his professional responsibilities. As the impersonation unfolds, the boundaries between his work and personal life blur in unexpected ways. Gutierrez wrote the script and stars alongside his wife, Christine Yuan.

Beyond his work in narrative filmmaking, as one half of directing duo Cliqua, alongside Rj Sanchez, Gutierrez has helmed numerous music videos for some of the biggest names in the industry, including The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Rosalía, Travis Scott and J Balvin. Notable music videos from the filmmaker include The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears,” “Out of Time,” and “Take My Breath”; Bad Bunny’s “Bichiyal” (alongside Yaviah), “La difícil,...

It’s been 25 years since Eddie Murphy played his own lookalike in the underrated “Bowfinger,” a Steve Martin-led comedy revolving around a struggling director who, to produce a film unwittingly starring a major celebrity, casts an everyman who just so happens to bear more than a passing resemblance to the man at the top of the marquee. The concept of doppelgangers in cinema could hardly be considered new, with fresh takes on the idea few and far between.

Continue reading ‘Serious People’ Review: A Light Doppelganger Comedy Hits All The Right Notes [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Directing music videos is easy. All you have to do is sit there, act confident, and never let on that you have no idea what you’re doing. The client is most likely an idiot; tell them the end result will be “cinematic” and they usually shut up. And if someone really starts to press, say that you’ll “have to check with your producer.” That will buy you some time.

This is the advice that Pasqual (Pasqual Gutierrez) gives to the doppelgänger he hires to take his place on the set of a big artist’s “return to form” in Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson’s playful docu-fiction hybrid “Serious People.” Doubles, and the idea of being replaced by one, are often the stuff of horror in the movies. Here, being replaceable is a relief, as Pasqual struggles to balance his career as half of a successful directing duo with the demands of impending parenthood.

As the Sundance Film Festival nears its conclusion on Day 5, the buzz on Main Street in Park City continues with premieres ranging from Rachael Abigail Holder’s; Love, Brooklyn to Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet.

The premiere of Rachael Abigail Holder’s directorial debut, featuring Roy Wood Jr., Nicole Beharie, Cassandra Freeman, DeWanda Wise, and Andre Holland himself, was attended by the cast and crew of Love, Brooklyn. The film chronicles the lives of three lifelong Brooklyn residents as they grapple with careers, love, loss, and the enduring bonds of friendship amidst the city’s ever-evolving urban landscape.

Related: Sundance Film Festival 2025: All Of Deadline’s Movie Reviews

Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet, starring Bowen Yang, Youn Yuh-jung, Han Gi-chan, Kelly Marie Tran, Joan Chen, and Lily Gladstone followed at the Eccles Theater. The remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 rom-com follows Angela and her partner Lee who have...

In Serious People, a music video director hires a doppelganger to take his place at work after he learns that his wife is pregnant. The film, co-directed by Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson, is inspired by Gutierrez’s own expectant fatherhood and is a 2025 Sundance Film Festival Next selection. Neema Sadeghi (Noel Miller: Stop Crying) and Nicholas Bupp served as co-cinematographers. Below, they talk about working without a crew and contrasting a calm visual style with a mounting sense of narrative tension. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being […]

The post “Forgetting the Camera Was Rolling, It Hit Me”: DPs Neema Sadeghi & Nicholas Bupp on Serious People first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In Serious People, a music video director hires a doppelganger to take his place at work after he learns that his wife is pregnant. The film, co-directed by Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson, is inspired by Gutierrez’s own expectant fatherhood and is a 2025 Sundance Film Festival Next selection. Neema Sadeghi (Noel Miller: Stop Crying) and Nicholas Bupp served as co-cinematographers. Below, they talk about working without a crew and contrasting a calm visual style with a mounting sense of narrative tension. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being […]

The post “Forgetting the Camera Was Rolling, It Hit Me”: DPs Neema Sadeghi & Nicholas Bupp on Serious People first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Serious People is co-directors Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson Next feature about a music video director who hires a lookalike to replace him at work while his wife is pregnant. The film is inspired by Gutierrez’s own expectant fatherhood. Serious People is also the feature editorial debut of Nick Rondeau. Below, Rondeau talks about keeping the emotional core of the story central even while adapting a fly-on-the-wall observational approach. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]

The post “What It Means to be a Human Straddling These Two Worlds”: Editor Nick Rondeau on Serious People first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Serious People is co-directors Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson Next feature about a music video director who hires a lookalike to replace him at work while his wife is pregnant. The film is inspired by Gutierrez’s own expectant fatherhood. Serious People is also the feature editorial debut of Nick Rondeau. Below, Rondeau talks about keeping the emotional core of the story central even while adapting a fly-on-the-wall observational approach. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]

The post “What It Means to be a Human Straddling These Two Worlds”: Editor Nick Rondeau on Serious People first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Co-directors Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson made a work of autofiction about the former’s expectant fatherhood and work-life balance in Serious People, about a music video director who hires a lookalike to take his place at work while his wife is pregnant. Serious People is also Laurel Thomson’s first feature film as a producer. She discusses what made this film so different to produce from other films she has worked on and the ensuing “baptism by fire” to get the film ready for Sundance, where it screens as part of the Next section. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer […]

The post “Moviemaking on a Hyper-Condensed Timeline”: Producer Laurel Thomson on Serious People first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Co-directors Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson made a work of autofiction about the former’s expectant fatherhood and work-life balance in Serious People, about a music video director who hires a lookalike to take his place at work while his wife is pregnant. Serious People is also Laurel Thomson’s first feature film as a producer. She discusses what made this film so different to produce from other films she has worked on and the ensuing “baptism by fire” to get the film ready for Sundance, where it screens as part of the Next section. See all responses to our annual Sundance first-time producer […]

The post “Moviemaking on a Hyper-Condensed Timeline”: Producer Laurel Thomson on Serious People first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? Pasqual Guttierez: To me, the most memorable aspect of this film was not one specific scene or shoot day. It was the collective experience as a whole. The film features my wife, my best friends and myself, and we play versions of ourselves. While the film was always set to be a comedy, I […]

The post “Actualize a Dream We’ve Had Since Our Early Twenties” | Pasqual Guttierez and Ben Mullinkosson, Serious People first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? Pasqual Guttierez: To me, the most memorable aspect of this film was not one specific scene or shoot day. It was the collective experience as a whole. The film features my wife, my best friends and myself, and we play versions of ourselves. While the film was always set to be a comedy, I […]

The post “Actualize a Dream We’ve Had Since Our Early Twenties” | Pasqual Guttierez and Ben Mullinkosson, Serious People first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.