Aubrey Plaza Compares Grief For Husband Jeff Baena To Horror Movie ‘The Gorge': 'There's A Giant Ocean Of Awfulness'
Appearing on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast, Plaza told her Parks and Recreation co-star that life was a 'daily struggle' since Baena died by suicide in January, but she remains 'really grateful to be moving through the world.'
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In a brief exchange about how she is coping, The White Lotus star likened her grief to The Gorge, the action-horror movie starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. Plaza said the analogy began as a joke, but also represents how she feels.
The Gorge chronicles how two highly-trained snipers occupy guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from a mysterious evil that lurks within. Plaza said her grief is the chasm that separates the towers.
She explained: 'At all times, there's a giant ocean of awfulness, that's right, like there and I can see it, and sometimes I just wanna just dive into it and be in it. Then sometimes I just look at it. Then sometimes I try to get away from it, but it's always there — and the monster people are trying to get me like Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.'
Baena was a screenwriter and film director best known for Life After Beth (2014), Joshy (2016), The Little Hours (2017), Horse Girl (2020), and Spin Me Round (2022). He was 47 when he died and married Plaza in 2021.
At the time of his death, Plaza released a statement saying: 'This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support.' News of Baena's passing sent shockwaves through Hollywood. The filmmaker was lovingly remembered in tributes from Alison Brie, Adam Pally, Molly Shannon, and many more.
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