R.I.P. Jeff Baena, indie director and co-writer of I Heart Huckabees

Jeff Baena, co-writer of I Heart Huckabees and director of indies like Life After Beth and The Little Hours, has died, according to Deadline. His cause of death has not yet been made public. He was 47 years old. 

Baena studied film at New York University before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked as a production assistant for legendary director Robert Zemeckis. Later, he became an assistant editor for writer-director David O. Russell, which led to a collaboration on the screenplay for I Heart Huckabees. As Baena told The A.V. Club in 2022, “I think the benefit of having done a movie like that to start off—which is, you know, bonkers—is that you have room to spread out and do more bonkers shit.” He observed that “through lines from that movie that probably [propagated]” into his own filmmaking, including a propensity for chaos and dynamic ensembles. “I’m a fan, clearly, of shifting tones,” Baena reflected. “I like things to be destabilizing—once you think you have figured it out, it goes in a different direction. But yeah, cringey, awkward stuff, I definitely get off on that.”

Baena went on to write and direct his own films, starting with 2014’s Life After Beth, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. The movie starred his long-term partner, Aubrey Plaza, whom he would go on to marry in 2021. Plaza is one of several performers that had a recurring role in Baena’s ensembles; he also worked frequently with Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly, Matthew Gray Gubler, Adam Pally, and Fred Armisen, among others. Alison Brie, who co-starred in his movies Joshy and The Little Hours, would go on to co-write his final films Horse Girl and Spin Me Round. Baena also created, wrote, directed and executive produced the Showtime series, Cinema Toast.

“I think personally, I’m only making stuff that I feel is different from something I’ve made before. [I like] trying new things and going into new places and painting myself into corners and trying to get out of it,” Baena described his filmmaking philosophy to The A.V. Club. “And if it’s something that you’ve seen before, I don’t see the value in making it again. And, you know, sometimes there’s a criticism of, ‘I was expecting this and I didn’t get it.’ But to me, what’s the point? Then watch that old movie that you thought this was going to be!”