Jeff Baena, the author/director of movies together with “Spin Me Spherical” and “The Little Hours,” has died at age 47, IndieWire has confirmed.
The filmmaker behind “Life After Beth,” “Joshy,” and “Horse Lady” additionally co-wrote “I Coronary heart Huckabees” with David O. Russell. Deadline reported the information of his loss of life on Saturday, January 4. The circumstances of his loss of life haven’t been shared by Baena’s representatives.
Baena was married to actor and producer Aubrey Plaza, who starred in “Life After Beth,” “The Little Hours,” and “Spin Me Spherical,” Baena’s last movie. IndieWire reached out to Plaza’s representatives, who don’t have any extra remark presently.
Baena co-wrote “Horse Lady” and “Spin Me Spherical” with star Alison Brie, who additionally acted in “Joshy” and “The Little Hours.” After graduating from NYU, Baena reduce his tooth in Los Angeles first as a manufacturing assistant for Robert Zemeckis, engaged on “Forged Away” and “What Lies Beneath.” He went on to turn out to be an assistant editor for David O. Russell, their collaboration resulting in co-writing 2004’s existentialist comedy “I Coronary heart Huckabees,” starring Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Wahlberg, Jude Regulation, and Naomi Watts.
Baena’s 2014 directorial debut “Life After Beth,” starring Plaza, competed for the Grand Jury Prize at that 12 months’s Sundance Movie Pageant earlier than receiving a launch from A24. His 2016 comedy “Joshy,” like “Life After Beth,” revolved across the loss of life of a girlfriend, right here starring “Silicon Valley” comic Thomas Middleditch plus Alex Ross Perry, Nick Kroll, and Jenny Slate.
The 2017 medieval darkish comedy “The Little Hours,” impressed by Boccaccio’s “The Decameron,” was a cult hit and stays extensively considered one among Plaza’s funniest performances, right here taking part in a nun. Baena’s subsequent indie movies earned regular acclaim, with Netflix buying and premiering 2020’s darkish comedy “Horse Lady.”
His final movie, 2022’s romantic comedy “Spin Me Spherical,” premiered on the SXSW Movie & TV Pageant earlier than opening from IFC Movies.
Baena is survived by Plaza and, in keeping with Deadline, his mom Barbara Stern, stepfather Roger Stern, father Scott Baena, stepmother Michele Baena, brother Brad Baena, and step-siblings Bianca Gabay and Jed Fluxman.