Filmmakers Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson Discuss “Serious People” | Interview

Take it easy. Chill out. Relax. You get told a lot of things throughout your life. Day to day, you go by worrying about what you do in the present and if you’ll even get a chance at the future you want. The stress sometimes gets too much to bear. At one point, you stop and ask yourself the question: am I taking myself too seriously?

We all want to be serious people at one point or another. Sometimes, the occasion calls for us to be serious, even when the occasion itself boils down into pure un-seriousness. That’s the exact same paradox that filmmakers Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson capture with their ironically titled film Serious People. The premise of the film adds more to the thematic dissonance, following Pascal’s life as he hires a doppelgänger to cover for his work as a video director so he can be more present when his child is born.

“We didn’t really have a narrative arc or the means to make a film at the time, but it was always on the backbone of, ‘Yeah, you know, we’re going to make a movie together,’” says Mullinkosson, who lived with Gutierrez and several others that would eventually work on Serious People. “Finally, ten years later… Christina is pregnant with Pasqual’s baby and he has a dream that going into the pregnancy, he hires a doppelganger to replace him as a director so that way he can be more present for Christine… he wakes up and tells Christine about it and [she’s] like, ‘That’s funny, you should make a movie.’”

And so they did. The film opens establishing the doppelgänger premise, as we see a shot of a group of men, all dressed in black, and all auditioning to play the “role” of Pasqual. Their interviews play over and cut into each other, being asked questions about what makes a good director or their favorite music videos, until we get to what seems like the last audition: a man named Miguel. When asked what makes a great director, his response is “I just gotta be you.” Cut to Pasqual, who has the same glasses on as Miguel, smiling, as he realizes he’s found the one.

“So Miguel was actually in my previous short film that I did with RJ… and that was his first time acting, but he was incredible,” says Gutierrez. When I mentioned Miguel to him, he delivered the highest praises for not only him as a person, but him as an actor. Miguel committed to his role, and the midway point where he can be seen letting off a lone tear in the club marks a tonal shift in that performance. Before that, he would’ve been begging to add Marvel-esque displays of strippers, but his life living in Pasqual’s shoes (or, more literally, alongside Pasqual) changed him, leading him to ruin everything between not just Cliqua and the shoot, but Pasqual and RJ as well for letting Miguel run rampant and meddling with the vision.

“He is such a committed person, when he commits to a role or… anything in life, he goes fully 100% in that, and so in this docu-fiction film where… everything’s changing in real time, I just knew that he was gonna be perfect for this, and for the specific type of comedy that we were looking for,” Gutierrez continues.

While also mentioning Miguel, another character has to be mentioned that sticks out like a sore thumb: Drake. Or, a Drake impersonator. I don’t think I have to mention the irony of Drake being in Los Angeles, nor do I need to mention his rap feud with a certain West Coast rapper, something other reviews of the film have already done, and something Gutierrez doesn’t seem to understand. “It’s a satire about the industry and… the characters that operate within that industry, not the artists themselves,” he says, while also reinforcing why he chose to use Drake in this story: “It’s gotta be Drizzy. He’s undeniable.”

Drake and his looming video shoot causes stress for everyone involved. Miguel has to contend with everyone not seeing his “vision”, RJ has to frequently keep Miguel in check, and Pasqual gets endless complaints from RJ while he spends more time with Christine, while she frequently gave him flak for being absent from their relationship. You can feel the frustration in all of these characters as they all feel everyone around them isn’t being serious enough, whether it’s Christine claiming that she wishes she was Pasqual’s phone so he could touch her more, or RJ saying they’re both screwed after the failed shoot and wishing Pasqual a nice life. Having the actors act as themselves gives the film a much more personal tinge to it, allowing them to better and truly flow on-screen.

One statement from Gutierrez during the interview stands out, specifically his own perspective on the film: “It’s a cringe comedy and it’s not taking itself seriously.” The film undeniably feels spaced out at points. Some dialogue seems redundant or inundated with cursing. Even the ending, which chooses to give Miguel a hopeful ending while leaving Pasqual standing in the rain, feels somewhat awkward. Even considering these flaws, I sat back and asked myself: why wouldn’t that be the point? Interspersing serious issues with campy execution and entertaining interactions drives home the exact idea Gutierrez is talking about. It seems like a perfect reminder that the whole idea for the film was based off of a dream.

Gutierrez elaborates more on the entertainment he’s looking for, praising “this new wave of comedy… where it’s a bit more self-deprecating. We’re starting to see a little bit of it happen… I think we need it right now, it’s a dark time, we gotta laugh at ourselves, what else can we do? Try to be self aware, just take the piss out of yourself, you know, why not?”

Serious People officially opened in theaters on November 14th following its selection at Sundance Film Festival 2025. Even ahead of its VOD and digital release on December 16th, the director duo are still working on future projects. Pasqual has several projects in the works with RJ as Cliqua and is currently developing a sequel to Serious People, while Ben is currently in post-production on a film about him and his skater friends, which is also written as a docu-fiction. Whatever it is, they always remember one thing: it’s not always that serious.