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Screenwriter and director Jeff Baena, who was married to Aubrey Plaza, has died, aged 47,
Baena’s body was discovered by an assistant at a house in Los Angeles and was pronounced dead at the scene. A cause of death is yet to be announced.
His credits include films Life After Beth (2014), The Little Hours (2017) and Netflix film Horse Girl (2020). He also co-wrote I Heart Huckabees, the 2004 film directed by David O Russell.
Baena started his relationship with Parks and Recreation and White Lotus star Plaza in 2011, and the pair married 10 years later.
The writer, director and actor’s films became favourites on the independent movie circuit and often received recognition at the Sundance Film Festival.
Life After Beth, the horror-comedy starring his future wife Plaza, was nominated for Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize in 2014 and, two years later, his follow-up Joshy, starring Thomas Middleditch, received the same nomination.
Medieval dark comedy The Little Hours, which saw him reunite with Plaza, starred husband-and-wife duo Alison Brie and Dave Franco, while Horse Girl, a psychological thriller co-written with Brie, saw Baena receive the biggest commerical hit of his career thanks to its Netflix release.
The film follows an introverted young woman whose dreams slowly start taking over her reality. Baena’s most recent film was Spin Me Round, which premiered in 2022.
It starred Brie and Plaza, and was the first film Baena directed after marrying the latter in 2021.
Speaking about working with Plaza, Baena told Reel Talker in 2022: “I would be working with her if she wasn’t my wife but luckily, she is. Having that shorthand, that sort of connection, it’s amazing – there’s a handful of directors who are lucky enough to be with an amazingly talented performer.
“The opportunities to create together and do something creative where we’re both fulfilled – how rare is that?”
