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Jeff Baena, writer, director and husband of Aubrey Plaza, dead at 47

Writer/director Jeff Baena during the Sundance Film Festival in 2020. Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP

Writer/director Jeff Baena during the Sundance Film Festival in 2020. Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP

CNN — Jeff Baena, a writer and director whose credits include “Life After Beth” and “The Little Hours,” has died, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

He was 47.

Baena died at his home in Los Angeles on Friday. His cause of death is listed as deferred on coroner records.

Baena was the husband of actor and comedian Aubrey Plaza. The two worked on several projects together, including the 2014’s horror-comedy “Life After Beth” and the 2017 historical comedy “The Little Hours.”

More recently, the pair collaborated on the 2021 comedy series “Cinema Toast,” and the 2022 film “Spin Me Round.” Both of those projects also featured actor Alison Brie, who additionally starred in Baena’s 2020 drama “Horse Girl.”

Baena is known for co-writing the acclaimed 2004 film “I Heart Huckabees,” which featured Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin, and for writing and directing the 2016 dramedy “Joshy” starring Thomas Middleditch.

 

Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza in 2016.
Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza in 2016. 
David Crotty/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images
 

CNN has reached out to representatives for Baena and Plaza for comment.

The couple married in a private ceremony in 2021 and had been together since 2011.

Around that time, Plaza told People about how the Covid-19 pandemic strengthened their relationship.

“We were quarantined for months and months like everybody else,” she said at the time. “And we did enjoy it. I think it was, obviously other than all of the catastrophic things happening in the world, just on a personal level, relationship level, was kind of nice to just be forced to be in one place for that long.”

Baena was a graduate of NYU Tisch Film School. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment, he worked as a production assistant for Robert Zemeckis and as an assistant editor for David O. Russell, with whom he collaborated on “Huckabees.”

“I think it’s rare to have as many opportunities as I’ve had. I’ve been lucky and I’m definitely appreciative of that,” Baena said in a 2022 interview with Reel Talker. “I love movies and I love filmmaking. I just celebrate it and I hope younger filmmakers and new filmmakers also have a chance to express themselves.”

He reflected on working with Plaza in that same interview.

“She’s awesome. I would be working with her if she wasn’t my wife, but luckily she is,” he said. “Having that sort of shorthand and that sort of connection is amazing… The opportunities to create together and do something creative where we’re both fulfilled, how rare is that.”

Baena is survived by Plaza, his parents and stepparents, along with several siblings.

This story has been updated to include additional information.

Author: Dan Heching, CNN

Source: CNN:::

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