Jeff Baena, an independent filmmaker who directed family Aubrey Plaza in” The Much Hours” and co-wrote David O. Russell’s” I Heart Huckabees”, has died at 47.
Baena died Friday at his home, according to the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department. The business did not disclose the cause of death.
Born on June 29, 1977, Baena attended New York University’s video university and worked as a production assistant for Robert Zemeckis pictures before joining Russell. During that time they collaborated on the reading of” I Heart Huckabees”, a dark humor released in 2004 that starred Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin and Mark Wahlberg.
Baena then went on his own, writing and directing” Career With Beth”, a 2014 monster comedy starring Plaza toward the end of her work on” Parks and Recreation”. The two kept their marriage personal, with Plaza referring to him as her , father in 2021.
She also starred in” The Little Hours”, a 2017 dark comedy Baena directed and co-wrote about a servant who takes refuge with nuns during the Middle Ages, and appeared in 2022’s” Spin Me Round”, the last film Baena directed. He co-wrote” Spin Me Round” with sun Alison Brie.
Baena even wrote and directed 2016’s” Joshy”, starring Thomas Middleditch, and” Horse Girl”, a 2020 Netflix launch also starring Brie, co-writer on the job. His credits also include the 2021 Showtime line” Cinema Toast”, starring Brie, Christina Ricci and Chloe Fineman.
No comments on Baena’s passing, Plaza’s staff, who received an Emmy nomination for her achievement in” The White Lotus,” made no remarks. In addition to his partner, Baena is survived by his mom, Barbara Stern, dad Scott Baena, father Roger Stern, mother Michele Baena, nephew Brad Baena, sister Bianca Gabay, and nephew Jed Fluxman.
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