Jeff Bina, the director and screenwriter who co-wrote the dark comedy “I Heart Huckabees” and directed films including “Life After Beth” and “Horse Girl,” died Friday. He was 47 years old.
His death was confirmed by a press representative, who did not give a cause.
Mr. Bina often elevated dark thematic elements with humor in his works. “I was zombies and romance.Life after bait” (2014), and “I’m the Wrong NunSmall hours“(2017).
He was married to actress Aubrey Plaza, who played the titular role in “Life After Beth,” about a woman who returns from the dead after being bitten by a deadly snake, and “The Little Hours.” ” and acted in “Spin Me Round”. ” (2022), directed by Mr. Bina and co-written with actress Alison Brie.
Mr. Bina co-wrote the 2004 film “I Heart Huckabees,” a dark comedy starring Dustin Hoffman, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin and Mark Wahlberg. The film, about an environmentalist who hires “existential detectives,” was not a box office success but developed a cult following for its quirky plotlines and characters.
“My parents were divorced, so I believe the trauma of the divorce helped inform my sense of humor,” Mr. Bina said in an interview. Fresh fictionA YouTube channel in 2022. “Most comedy probably comes from drama.”
He decided to become a filmmaker at age 11, he told FreshFiction, when he was flipping through cable television channels and tuning into Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange.” He was so impressed with the film that he asked his father to take it to a video rental store, where he rented it in 1963. Federico Fellini movie “8½.”
“I was always drawn to weird movies,” he said on Fresh Fiction. He said he was “exposed to a lot of things that I thought were a little off-center, and so it was normalized for me,” adding, “I looked for it. “
Jeffrey Baena was born on June 29, 1977 and grew up in Miami. He graduated from New York University in 1999, where he majored in film and minored in medieval and renaissance studies. The New Yorker.
He later wrote “I Heart Huckabees” with director David O. Russell. The film “captures the disenchantment of the liberal left with surprisingly good humor,” wrote critic Manohala Dargus. 2004 review of the film for The New York Times.
Ms. Dargus added that it is “a comedy of dialectics, with dual opposites duking it out like wounded lovers, but it’s nothing if not deeply sincere.”
A complete list of Mr. Bina’s survivors was not immediately available. His wife, Ms. Plaza, became famous for her role as April Lydgate on the television series “Parks and Recreation,” in which she played a moody, sarcastic and reluctant officer activist. She has recently starred in films including “Megalopolis” (2024) and “Emily the Criminal” (2022).
In addition to directing and writing “Life After Beth” and “The Little Hours,” Mr. Bina has written and directed films.Joshi” (2016), and “Horse Girl” (2020), which he co-wrote with Ms. Bray.
Jack bag participated in the research.