‘Spin Me Round’ director Jeff Baena.
Preview:
- Filmmaker Jeff Baena has tragically died aged 47.
- Baena was the writer and director of movies including ‘Life After Beth.’
- He was married to actor and frequent collaborator Aubrey Plaza.
Jeff Baena, a respected writer and director whose work includes movies such as ‘Joshy,’ ‘Life After Beth’ and ‘Spin Me Round,’ was found dead at home in Los Angeles on Friday. He was 47.
Baena, who had been in a long relationship with ‘Parks & Recreation’ and ‘My Old Ass’ actor Aubrey Plaza –– the pair married in secret in 2021 –– was discovered by an assistant and declared dead at the scene.
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Jeff Baena: Early Life and Career
‘Spin Me Round’ director Jeff Baena.
Baena was born in 1977 and raised in Miami.
After graduating from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in film, Baena headed to Los Angeles, getting his start in somewhat traditional fashion by working as a production assistant on films, particularly for Robert Zemeckis, for whom he served on the crews of ‘What Lies Beneath’ and ‘Cast Away.’
His next job was as an assistant editor for filmmaker David O. Russell, and an unusual coincidence –– actually an accident –– helped to spur the next stage of Baena’s career. While driving to Russell’s house as part of his duties one day, his car was struck by another. The result was an eye injury that forced him to stop working for several weeks.
Offering to help care for him, Russell, began discussing ideas for scripts, and the two would start to collaborate on work.
This is what Baena told Fast Company about that time:
“He was super-generous, creatively. He allowed me to advocate for any ideas that were in conflict with his ideas. We were on the same wavelength, had the same style and interests. He was really a soul mate, as a co–writer.”
Jeff Baena: Writing work
(L to R) Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin in ‘I Heart Huckabees’. Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
One of the screenplays to result from their collaboration would be Russell’s 2004 movie ‘I Heart Huckabees,’ which stars the likes of Mark Wahlberg, Jude Law, Lily Tomlin and Jason Schwartzman. It was nominated for the 2004 Gotham Award for Best Feature.
Following that, be began to score uncredited work revising other scripts, including a contribution to 2004 comedy sequel ‘Meet the Fockers.’
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But it was in writing and directing that Baena’s heart truly lay.
He made a brief stop in the world of acting before he became a director, playing a character named after himself in Mark Webber’s 2012 drama ‘The End of Love.’
He would also have a small role in Joe Swanberg’s 2015 film ‘Digging for Fire,’ cementing his roots within the growing indie movement that also included the Duplass brothers.
Jeff Baena: Director
Anna Kendrick in ‘Life After Beth’. Photo: A24.
The filmmaker made his directorial debut with 2014 horror comedy ‘Life After Beth,’ in which Dane DeHaan’s character discovers that his deceased girlfriend –– played by Aubrey Plaza –– has come back to life as a zombie.
He followed that up with 2016’s ‘Joshy,’ starring Thomas Middleditch as a man who loses his fiancée and whose friends try to cheer him up by taking him to a cabin. It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
Next came one of the films for which Baena is best remembered; 2017’s ‘The Little Hours,’ in which Dave Franco plays a young servant fleeing from his master takes refuge at a convent full of emotionally unstable nuns –– which includes Plaza among their number. That film was nominated for the Audience Award at the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival.
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Baena co-wrote, directed, and produced ‘Horse Girl’ which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix shortly after. And his most recent film was ‘Spin Me Round,’ featuring Alison Brie as a woman wins an all-expenses-paid trip to a company’s institute outside of Florence, and also the chance to meet the restaurant chain’s wealthy and charismatic owner.
On television, Baena created, wrote, directed and executive produced the Showtime series, ‘Cinema Toast,’ which sees indie filmmakers re-editing and re-scoring footage from public domain films, overdubbing them with performances of contemporary actors to tell new, wholly original stories.
The series included Plaza’s chance to make her directorial debut.
Jeff Baena: Aubrey Plaza Talks Their Relationship
(L to R) Aubrey Plaza as Kat and Alison Brie as Amber in ‘Spin Me Round.’
Plaza and Baena had been together since 2011 but preferred to keep their connection private until they married in May 2021, the news only breaking because she referred to him as “my darling husband” on Instagram.
Plaza had this to say about their relationship and marriage on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show‘:
“It’s so great, it’s so complicated. It’s, like, extreme highs and extreme, you know, complications. It’s a really hard thing to navigate, but we’ve been together for 11 years. We just muscle our way through it.”
And this was what she told People about how the pandemic strengthened their bond:
“We were quarantined for months and months like everybody else. 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.”
In addition to Plaza, Baena is survived by his mother, Barbara Stern and stepfather Roger Stern, father Scott Baena and stepmother Michele Baena, brother Brad Baena and stepsister and stepbrother Bianca Gabay and Jed Fluxman.
(L to R) Zach Woods as Dana, Debby Ryan as Susie, Alison Brie as Amber, and Ayden Mayeri as Jen in ‘Spin Me Round.’
Other Jeff Baena Movies and TV Shows:
Buy Jeff Baena Movies on Amazon