Director and screenwriter Jeff Baena, who co-wrote the dark comedy “I Heart Huckabees,” and has directed films such as “Life After Beth” and “Horse Girl,” was at the show on Friday in Los Angeles. He died at the mansion. He was 47 years old.
His death was confirmed by reporters, but they did not mention the cause of death. Los Angeles police responded Friday morning to a death investigation at an address that matched Baena's records.
Mr. Baena often enhanced dark thematic elements in his work with humor. “Life After Beth” (2014) had zombies and romance, and “Little Hours” (2017) had an inappropriate nun.
He is married to actress Aubrey Plaza, who played the lead role in “Life After Beth,'' about a woman who comes back from the dead after being bitten by a snake, and starred in “Little Hours'' and “Spin Me Round.'' also appeared. (2022), which Baena directed and co-wrote with actress Alison Brie.
Mr. Baena also co-wrote the 2004 film “I Heart Huckabees,'' a dark comedy starring Dustin Hoffman, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin, and Mark Wahlberg. The film, about an environmental activist who employs an “existential detective,” was not a commercial success, but its unusual plot and characters made it a cult favorite.
“My parents were divorced, so I'm sure the trauma of divorce developed my sense of humor,” Baena said in a 2022 interview on the YouTube channel Fresh Fiction. “Most of the comedy probably comes from drama.”
He told Fresh Fiction that he decided to become a film director when he was 11 years old, flipping through cable TV channels and watching Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. spoke. He was so intrigued by the film that he asked his father to take him to a video rental store, where he rented the 1963 Federico Fellini film 8 1/2.
“I've always been drawn to weird movies,” he told Fresh Fiction. “I've been exposed to a lot of things that I think are a little left of center, so it became normal for me,” he said, adding, “I sought it out.”
Jeffrey Baena was born on June 29, 1977 and raised in Miami. He graduated from New York University in 1999, where he majored in film and minored in medieval and Renaissance studies, according to The New Yorker.
He later co-wrote I Heart Huckabees with director David O. Russell. The film “captures the despair of the liberal left with surprisingly good humor,” wrote critic Manohla Dargis in a 2004 New York Times review of the film.
Dargis added that the film is “a dialectical comedy in which conflicting dualities play out like a wounded lover, but it is not sincere.”
A complete list of Baena's survivors was not immediately available. His wife, Ms. Plaza, is best known for her role as April Ludgate on the TV series “Parks and Recreation,'' in which she played a moody, cynical, and reluctant bureaucrat. She has recently appeared in films such as “Megalopolis'' (2024) and “Emily the Criminal'' (2022).
In addition to directing and writing “Life After Beth” and “The Little Hours,” Mr. Baena co-wrote the films “Josie” (2016) and “Horse Girl” (2020) with Mr. Baena. He also wrote and directed the movie. Bree.
Jack Begg contributed to the research.
