Jeff Baena, the director known for independent films such as Life After Beth and The Little Hours, has died at the age of 47.
The news was confirmed by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office after his body was discovered on Friday (January 3) at a Los Angeles residence. The cause of death has not been made available.
Baena was also the husband of Aubrey Plaza, the actor who came to star in many of his films, including the 2014 zombie comedy Life After Beth and the 2017 medieval black comedy The Little Hours.
Baena and Plaza started their relationship in 2011 and married quietly in 2020, before announcing it to the public the following year. They also collaborated on the 2016 comedy drama Joshy.
Baena’s other directing credits include Horse Girl, a 2020 psychological drama, and Spin Me Round, a 2022 dark comedy that was to be his final feature. Both films starred Alison Brie in the lead role.
The director graduated from film school at NYU and began as a production assistant for Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis. He then began to work alongside David O. Russell, with whom he went on to co-write the independent black comedy I Heart Huckabees in 2004, gaining him his first major success.
NME reviewed Life After Beth in 2014, awarding the film 3 and a half stars and noting: “Jeff Baena’s film goes for the jugular when the undead rise from their graves invading suburbia, proving Zach was right about Beth all along. Slapstick mayhem unfolds with Zach’s gun obsessed brother on the rampage while comedy zombies shuffle the streets. We’ve been here before with Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland but it’s fun stuff for fans of the genre kick started by George Romero with Night of the Living Dead in 1968.”
“Plaza’s gory transformation is entertaining and, even when she’s restrained by Zach who straps a kitchen stove to her back to quell her fits of rage, Life After Beth offers moments that are more ‘rom’ than ‘zom’.”
Baena is survived by Plaza, as well as his mother Barbara Stern, stepfather Roger Stern, father Scott Baena, stepmother Michele Baena and his brother Brad Baena.
The post ‘Life After Beth’ director Jeff Baena dies aged 47 appeared first on NME.
‘Life After Beth’ director Jeff Baena dies aged 47
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