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Jeff Baena

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Jeff Baena
Baena posing
Baena at the 2017 Seattle International Film Festival
Born
Jeffrey Lance Baena

(1977-06-29)June 29, 1977
Miami, Florida, U.S.
DiedJanuary 3, 2025(2025-01-03) (aged 47)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
EducationNew York University
Occupations
  • Director
  • screenwriter
Years active1998–2025
Spouse
​
(m. 2021)​
[1]

Jeffrey Lance Baena (/ˈbeɪnə/; June 29, 1977 – January 3, 2025) was an American screenwriter and film director. He wrote and directed Life After Beth (2014), Joshy (2016), The Little Hours (2017), Horse Girl (2020) and Spin Me Round (2022) and co-wrote I Heart Huckabees (2004). He was known for his frequent collaborations with actresses Alison Brie (with whom he co-wrote Horse Girl and Spin Me Round), Molly Shannon, and his wife Aubrey Plaza.

Early life and education

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Jeffrey Lance Baena was born on June 29, 1977,[2] to Barbara (later Stern) and Scott Baena,[3] and grew up in a secular Jewish family in Miami, Florida.[4][5] His family was from New York City, and had moved to Miami due to his father's work as a lawyer. Baena's parents were divorced, which he credited in part with informing his dark sense of comedy.[6] His first stepmother was manic depressive, and under Florida's Baker Act was frequently institutionalized but then released, with Baena later commenting on systemic challenges in mental health care.[7] Baena had three siblings, including two step-siblings.[3]

He graduated from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in film, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue directing.[1] He, without really intending, achieved a minor in medieval studies after taking multiple classes when he "was hard-core into the alchemy shit",[5] and also took classes relating to philosophy.[6]

Career

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Baena became a production assistant for filmmaker Robert Zemeckis on What Lies Beneath and Cast Away (both 2000).[8][9] After working with Zemeckis, Baena became an assistant editor for writer-director David O. Russell. After a year and a half of working together, a minor car accident injured one of Baena's eyes. Partially to keep his spirits up and pass the time during his recovery, Russell began discussing story ideas with Baena. The two ended up collaborating on four scripts together, including I Heart Huckabees, which Russell directed in 2004, and Jay Roach's Meet the Fockers (also 2004), for which they made uncredited revisions.[8][10]: 146–147 

He had planned for the comedy-drama Joshy to be his directorial debut, but actor and collaborator Adam Pally had to postpone for personal reasons. Baena then decided to work on the zombie comedy Life After Beth, from a script he started writing in 2003,[11] which became his debut.[12][13] This film had been pushed back from production before, and was only picked back up after Baena's girlfriend Aubrey Plaza saw the script and was interested in playing Beth.[14] Life After Beth premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014,[12][13] the same festival that Joshy, as Baena's second film, premiered at in 2016. Joshy received positive reviews,[8] with the film's Rotten Tomatoes critics' consensus highlighting Baena's direction for "strik[ing] a unique, disarmingly heartfelt blend of dark humor and tragedy".[15] Both films are comedies that explore how a person copes after the death of their partner;[16][17] Baena's films all broadly deal with themes of grief, loss, love and mental health. Critics appreciated the attention and care Baena gave to topics that were not frequently tackled in Hollywood films.[16][7][6]

Joshy was Baena's first film to feature actress Alison Brie, who then had a main role in his next film, the 2017 black comedy The Little Hours. It also starred Plaza and Pally, as well as John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon, regulars in Baena's ensembles.[18][16] Inspired by passages from The Decameron, which Baena had studied, the film was largely improvised and based in the disconnect of medieval beliefs to modern ones; Baena saw the potential for humor[5] and tragedy in this idea.[16]

He would direct Brie two more times in the films Horse Girl (2020) and Spin Me Round (2022), which they co-wrote together. The latter also featured Aubrey Plaza.[19][20] Both actresses were involved in different capacities in Baena's only television work, Cinema Toast, a 2021 anthology series that he created and executive produced. Baena and Plaza each wrote and directed an episode of the series, which reinterpreted public domain footage to tell modern stories.[21][3]

Personal life and death

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Baena was in a relationship with actress Aubrey Plaza from 2011. In 2021, on their tenth anniversary of being together, they were married in a small ceremony in their backyard.[22][23]

On January 3, 2025, Baena's body was discovered at his home in Los Angeles by his assistant, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 47.[24] The Los Angeles County medical examiner reported the cause of death as suicide by hanging.[25][26]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Director Writer Producer
2004 I Heart Huckabees[8] No Yes No
Meet the Fockers[10] No Uncredited No
2014 Life After Beth[11] Yes Yes No
2016 Joshy[8] Yes Yes No
2017 The Little Hours[3] Yes Yes No
2020 Horse Girl[19] Yes Yes Yes
2022 Spin Me Round[3][better source needed] Yes Yes Yes

Television

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Year Title Creator Director Writer Producer
2021 Cinema Toast[3] Yes 1 episode 9 episodes Executive producer

References

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  1. ^ a b "Filmmaker Jeff Baena, husband of Aubrey Plaza, dead at 47". BBC. January 4, 2025. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  2. ^ Igoe, Katherine J. (January 17, 2023). "Aubrey Plaza's Low-Key Husband Jeff Baena Is So Supportive and Cute". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved January 4, 2025 – via AOL.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Piña, Christy (January 4, 2025). "Jeff Baena, Indie Film Director and Aubrey Plaza's Husband, Dies at 47". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
  4. ^ Lindner, Emmett (January 4, 2025). "Jeff Baena, film director and screenwriter, dies at 47". The New York Times. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Russell, Anna (June 26, 2017). "Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza's Medieval Adventure". The New Yorker.
  6. ^ a b c Zaltzman, Lior (January 7, 2025). "Jewish Director Jeff Baena Made Movies that Were Dark and Divine". Kveller. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
  7. ^ a b LW (January 6, 2025). "Aubrey Plaza's husband Jeff Baena's tragic death shines light on his most personal film". MARCA. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d e Zax, David (February 3, 2016). "How A Freak Eye Injury Became A Career Turning Point For The Director Of Joshy". Fast Company. Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  9. ^ "'Outline Over Screenplay' Jeff Baena On 'Spin Me Round Interview'". International Screenwriters' Association. December 19, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Robert De Niro: A Preliminary Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center". Harry Ransom Center. Retrieved January 4, 2025 – via University of Texas at Austin.
  11. ^ a b Erbland, Kate (August 10, 2016). "Joshy Director Jeff Baena: Why Marketing Can Ruin a Movie". IndieWire. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  12. ^ a b Fleming, Mike Jr. (January 24, 2014). "Sundance: A24 Nearing Domestic Deal on Life After Beth". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 3, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Gupta, Shipra Harbola (July 18, 2014). "Watch: Molly Shannon Steals the Show in New Life After Beth Clip". IndieWire. Archived from the original on September 3, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  14. ^ Bailey, Jason (January 20, 2014). "Sundance 2014: Aubrey Plaza Reinvents Herself in 'Life After Beth'". Flavorwire. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  15. ^ "Joshy". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  16. ^ a b c d "Horse Girl director Jeff Baena on creating the awkward mental health alien abduction movie of the year". SYFY Official Site. February 14, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
  17. ^ Eggert, Brian (July 15, 2014). "Life After Beth (2014)". Deep Focus Review. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  18. ^ McNary, Dave (April 26, 2016). "Alison Brie's Dark Comedy The Little Hours Selling at Cannes". Variety. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  19. ^ a b Siegel, Tatiana (December 4, 2019). "Sundance Unveils Female-Powered Lineup Featuring Taylor Swift, Gloria Steinem, Abortion Road Trip Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  20. ^ "Jeff Baena death: Filmmaker and Aubrey Plaza's husband dies, aged 47". The Independent. January 4, 2025. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  21. ^ Petski, Denise (April 12, 2021). "'Cinema Toast' Anthology Series From Jeff Baena & Duplass Brothers To Stream On Showtime". Deadline. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
  22. ^ Russian, Ale (May 7, 2021). "Aubrey Plaza Marries Longtime Love Jeff Baena: 'My Darling Husband'". People. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
  23. ^ Macke, Johnni (December 15, 2021). "Aubrey Plaza Details Her Secret Wedding to Husband Jeff Baena: 'We Got a Little Bored One Night'". Us Weekly. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
  24. ^ Rico, Nicholas (January 4, 2025). "Writer and Director Jeff Baena, and Aubrey Plaza's Husband, Dies by Suicide at 47: Report". People. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  25. ^ Hunt, Brice (January 2025). "Jeffreey Baena". County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner. Archived from the original on January 5, 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  26. ^ Quadri, Sami (January 5, 2025). "Cause of death revealed for Aubrey Plaza's husband Jeff Baena after tragic loss". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on January 5, 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
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