Director Jeff Baena, Husband of Aubrey Plaza, Is Dead

Jeff Baena, a screenwriter and director whose work included Life After Beth and The Little Hours, has died. Baena, the husband of actress Aubrey Plaza, was 47. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office reported that his body was discovered on Friday at a home in Los Angeles, per Variety. The cause of death was not listed on the coroner's records, per CNN. Baena told Fresh Fiction, a YouTube channel, in 2022 that he decided to become a filmmaker when he came across Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange on TV at age 11. "I was always drawn to weirdo movies," he said.

Baena often combined humorous and dark elements, per the New York Times. Life After Beth had romance and zombies, and The Little Hours had misbehaving nuns. Plaza had roles in both films. In addition to directing, Baena cowrote productions including 2004's I Heart Huckabees. Plaza announced they had married in a May 2021 Instagram post, per People, with a photo of the two and a caption referring to her "darling husband." (More obituary stories.)