Alison Brie is mourning the death of frequent collaborator and friend, Jeff Baena.
Brie, 42, shared a series of pictures of the pair together via her Instagram Stories on Sunday, January 5. In the first image, Brie smiled as she looked at Baena while he spoke at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 for Horse Girl. (Brie and Baeana co-wrote and co-produced the Netflix film, which she starred in and he directed.)
While sharing the photo via social media on Sunday, Brie added a broken heart emoji over the image. In another photo, Brie and Baena wrapped their arms around each other while in an additional pic she leaned against him as they sat on a couch.
“Rest in peace my friend,” she wrote over another image of the twosome smiling.
One day before Brie’s upload, Us Weekly confirmed that Baena died by suicide at age 47. Baena is survived by his wife, Aubrey Plaza, who has yet to publicly address his death.
Prior to his death, Baena wrote and directed a series of Indie TV shows and films — several of which starred Brie. While reflecting on their friendship in 2022, Brie revealed that she and her husband, Dave Franco, are neighbors with Baena and Plaza, 40.
“Dave and I lived quite close to Jeff and Aubrey. Jeff and I started hiking together pretty regularly, just as buddies, and during these long hikes, we would talk about different ideas,” Brie recalled to Collider. “Eventually, I felt comfortable enough with him to talk to him about my idea for Horse Girl, which we co-wrote and co-produced together. That was such a good experience.”
After Horsegirl, Brie said Baena approached her for another film, 2022’s Spin Me Round. The twosome cowrote the romantic comedy together, which Brie starred in alongside Plaza.
“And then, he came to me and said, ‘Well, I have this idea that I’ve been thinking about for a long time.’ That led to this,” she explained to the outlet. “It’s all been a pretty organic evolution.
While promoting the film in August 2022, Baena gushed over his collaborative connection with Brie. “It’s an insane benefit to have the person that you’re collaborating with on all fronts also be on the other side of the camera,” Baena told AV Club. “Because in addition to understanding, obviously, where the script is coming from and what the intention is, they can also set the tone in terms of acting.”
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