Jeff Baena was an independent movie director and the husband of “The White Lotus” star Aubrey Plaza.
In 2021, Plaza praised her husband on Instagram, writing, “So proud of my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up another film that takes us to italia to cause some more trouble 😈 excited to be reunited with the amazing @alisonbrie (who also co-wrote this one!) and @theofficialsuperstar @sordociego @lauren_weedman and so many more fun people in this. Preparati!! 🇮🇹 ❤️”
According to KTLA, Baena made his “directorial debut” in 2014 with the movie “Life After Beth,” which starred Plaza along with Dane DeHaan and John C. Reilly.
He also directed, wrote and produced the movies “The Little Hours” and “Horse Girl,” according to KTLA.
According to TMZ, Baena was discovered deceased in his Los Angeles home on January 4 of suspected suicide. He was 47.
Here’s what you need to know about Aubrey Plaza’s husband Jeff Baena:
1. Jeff Baena Dated Aubrey Plaza for a Decade Before Their Marriage, Reports Say
EntertainmentNOW/GettyFans leave condolences after Aubrey Plaza’s husband died.
According to KTLA, Baena and Plaza dated “for nearly a decade” before marrying in 2020.
They did not announce the marriage until 2021, KTLA reported. People magazine reported that the pair had dated since 2011.
The pair both spoke to Screen Riot about Plaza’s work on Baena’s movie, “The Little Hours.”
“This is an independent film, so we did it with equity money as opposed to going through a studio. You have a lot more latitude and leverage to make a movie that you want as opposed to something that’s watered down by committee,” he said in that interview.
2. Jeff Baena Got His Start in Hollywood Working for Famous Movie Directors, Reports Say
GettyRobert Zemeckis.
According to TMZ, Baena got a start working in “lower-level jobs” for famous directors like Robert Zemeckis and David O. Russell.
His first breakthrough was writing screenplays with Russell, TMZ reported. According to TMZ, he wrote four of them, including “I Heart Huckabees.”
That movie starred stars Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin, according to TMZ.
GettyJeff Baena.
Baena was on Instagram but his posts are private.
Aubrey Plaza’s most recent Instagram post shared an artistic holiday card. “Here’s our 2024 Evil Hag holiday card by Delaware artist @vik.art 🖌️ Merry Witchmas and Haggy Holidays from Evil Hag! 🧙🏻♀️🌲🎅🏼,” she wrote on Christmas Eve.
Her comments threads are now filled with condolences. “May his memory always be with you. Wishing you and your family all of the best during this difficult time,” wrote one person.
4. Jeff Baena Said He Was ‘Drawn to Irony’ in Screenwriting But Not ‘Melodrama’
Getty (L-R) Adam Pally, Molly Shannon, director Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza and Kate Micucci attend the “The Little Hours” Screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Theate on May 20, 2017 in New York City.
In 2022, Baena spoke about a movie called “Spin Me Around” to the site Creative Screenwriting.
In that interview, he explained how he came up with the idea for the film. “After I shot The Little Hours and came back to America from Italy, I read this article about an Italian franchise restaurant in America that has a program where they send their top managers to their institute in Italy,” he told Creative Screenwriting. “This one manager went there and was expecting this sort of life-changing experience… and the villa that was on the website for this program ended up just being a kind of background. They ended up staying in this dorm that was falling apart and the program was not very well organized.”
He also spoke about his writing process in that interview, saying, “My last three movies were based off of outlines and not actual screenplays; so they were they were 28 to 30-page outlines where I would write down all the actions of what was happening. And then I would summarize the gist of what the characters were saying without actually spelling it out.”
Baena added, “I think I’m drawn to irony a lot… and I think comedy is sort of driven by incongruity. And I think I’m sensitive to that. It’s just something that I value. I’m not really drawn to melodrama because I feel like they’re so oppressive in the world that they’re creating. Because I personally I feel like, in the most serious moments, there is still comedy and the way people cope with bad things is generally through comedy.”
5. Jeff Baena Met Aubrey Plaza While Playing the Board Game Balderdash
GettyJeff Baena.
Plaza told GQ that she met Baena while they were playing a board game Balderdash.
In 2014, she gave an interview in which she said of Baena, “He’s written so many scripts, and we’ve been together for a couple years, and ever since I’ve been together with him, a lot of people have said, ‘Oh, have you ever read this one script that he wrote that’s, like, the best script?’ Because he tried to get it going years ago and studio, whatever, (expletive) happened and it fell apart for whatever reason.”
She added, “But it was a script that still stuck in a lot of people’s minds and one of my agents at the time was one of those people. And Jeff is not the kind of person — he doesn’t like talking about work, we don’t talk about work that much. He’s not into business stuff or whatever, so he’s never given me a script and been like, “Do this.” So I kind of had to make him let me read it. And then I read it and it was so fucking good, and it felt perfect for me and he felt the same way, so then we started the process.”
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