The filmmaker husband of US actress Aubrey Plaza took his own life, a medical examiner has ruled.

Jeff Baena, 47, was pronounced dead at 10.39am on Friday at a home near the Hollywood Hills and Los Feliz areas of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner said his body will be released to his family.

The director and screenwriter worked with Parks And Recreation star Plaza, 40, on 2014 horror film Life After Beth and 2017 historical comedy The Little Hours.

The couple had been in a relationship since about 2011 and married in 2021.

Previously Plaza told The Ellen DeGeneres Show she and Baena “got a little bored one night” during the COVID pandemic and decided to wed after celebrating their 10th anniversary.

She said after finding a wedding officiant online to perform the ceremony in their garden, she “created a very quick love altar in our yard” where they married.

Baena wrote 2020 thriller Horse Girl, starring Alison Brie, and 2022 dark comedy Spin Me Round, both of which he also directed.

He also co-wrote the 2004 comedy I Heart Huckabees alongside director David O Russell, which boasted a stacked cast that included Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Naomi Watts, Lily Tomlin and Mark Wahlberg.

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Baena created the anthology comedy series Cinema Toast, which had an episode directed by Plaza and another starring Community actress Brie.

On X, Hollywood actor and comedian Marc Maron wrote: “Very sad about the tragic loss of a true artist and sweet guy.”

Sundance Film Festival, where Baena’s directorial debut Life After Beth premiered in 2014, wrote: “We extend our heartfelt thanks to Jeff Baena for sharing his stories and contributing to the lasting memories we’ve built together.

“Jeff, we’ll miss your wit, humour, and daring vision. Rest in peace, friend.”

Plaza had been announced as a presenter at Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony earlier this week before her husband’s death.

She was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2023 for her role in the second series of HBO dark comedy White Lotus and is also known for Disney+ series Agatha All Along, and films including Megalopolis, My Old Ass, Ingrid Goes West, Dirty Grandpa and Emily The Criminal.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) confirmed it attended the residence where Baena died and said a coroner will lead the investigation.

If you are in need of support, Samaritans run a helpline which is open day and night, 365 days a year, on 116 123. You can also email jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.

While the Oscars bestows the film industry’s highest honours, the Golden Globes is the ceremony that gets the awards season party started.

Emilia Perez, which stars Selena Gomez and tells the story of a Mexican drug lord who changes gender, leads the nominations with 10, while postwar epic The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, has seven, and papal thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, has six.

After surpassing Mamma Mia earlier this week to become the highest-grossing film ever adapted from a Broadway musical, Wicked has four nods – and seems certain to follow in the perfectly arched footsteps of Barbie by clinching the prize for cinematic and box office achievement.

The Golden Globes also celebrates TV – with The Bear, Shogun, Only Murders In The Building, Baby Reindeer, The Penguin and Monsters among the big nominees.

This year’s ceremony takes place in Los Angeles later today, so you’ll have to stay up late if you plan to follow in the UK.

Ahead of the show, here are a few things to look out for.

Musicals lead the way

All singing, often dancing – it seems the world has really been holding space for musicals over the past 12 months.

Operatic musical Emilia Perez comfortably has the most nominations of all the films in the running, while Wicked, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, has been the most talked about film of the year (not least because of the viral press tour).

Both Erivo and Grande are nominated in acting categories – for Grande, it is her first Golden Globe nod for her performance as Glinda, and she competes in the best supporting female actor in a motion picture category against fellow pop star Gomez and Zoe Saldana, who also stars in Emilia Perez.

Erivo is up for the award for best female actor in a motion picture musical or comedy, alongside Zendaya for romantic sports film Challengers, Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez, Demi Moore for The Substance, Amy Adams for Nightbitch, and a breakout performance from Mikey Madison for Anora, a film about a young sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch.

Read more: Anora – the film opening the conversation about sex work

Surprise surprise

Last year’s nominations were led by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the latter of which went on to win pretty much every award going, including best picture at the Oscars.

While the Barbenheimer buzz was fun for a while, Oppenheimer’s domination made awards season pretty predictable (and, some might say, a little dull). This year, Wicked aside, there are no such obvious contenders.

The Brutalist, which follows Brody as a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War, seems to be a favourite for best drama, as well as a best actor win for its star, and best director for Brady Corbet.

But it faces tough competition from Conclave, in which Fiennes plays a priest who has to select a new pope, as well as A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan. Awards voters love a biopic, after all.

In the musical/comedy category, experts for awards prediction site Gold Derby seem to be split three ways, between Wicked, Emilia Perez, and Anora – whose star Madison is also tipped to beat the likes of Erivo and Moore in her category.

Read more: The full list of nominations

Celeb spotting

After a difficult few years, the Golden Globes are still in comeback mode.

Following an expose over a lack of diversity among members, the ceremony was held in private and boycotted by celebs in 2022 and didn’t quite fully bounce back in 2023.

Now, with a new organising body and after appearances by lots of A-listers last year, it looks set to bring some mega-watt star appeal once again.

Angelina Jolie – a favourite for best actress for her portrayal of opera singer Maria Callas in Maria – Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman, Chalamet and Moore are just a few of the big-name nominees, alongside Grande and Gomez. Pamela Anderson is also on the list – nominated for best actress in a drama for her performance in The Last Showgirl.

Read more: Ralph Fiennes on Conclave: ‘It’s not a facile takedown’

British and Irish hopefuls

And it’s not just Hollywood making up the star-studded guest list, as loads of British celebs are in the running for awards, too, from Eddie Redmayne for his performance in Sky’s The Day Of The Jackal, to Keira Knightley for Netflix’s Black Doves.

Other British stars on the shortlists include Kate Winslet (nominated in both the TV and film categories for The Regime and Lee), Gary Oldman for hit Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, Hugh Grant for horror movie Heretic, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Colin Farrell for The Penguin, and Daniel Craig for his film Queer, based on the 1985 novella by William S Burroughs. And Erivo, too.

Robbie Williams also gets a nod for best original song for his unique biopic, Better Man – his life story told through the medium of a computer-generated monkey.

Read more: Robbie Williams on Better Man

The stars who missed out

Unlike the Oscars, the Globes covers both TV and film and also includes genre splits – with separate awards for dramas, and comedies and musicals. It means there are a lot of nominees in the running for awards.

Still, there were a few big names absent from the shortlists.

While his co-star Washington is up for a supporting award, Gladiator II star Paul Mescal missed out on a nod – as did director Sir Ridley Scott.

The original film won the best picture Golden Globe in 2001 and star Russell Crowe was nominated in the best acting category for his performance.

British director Sir Steve McQueen’s Second World War drama film Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan, is also absent from the nominations.

And while Dune: Part Two is up for best picture and best original score by Hans Zimmer, director Denis Villeneuve has not been recognised.

Read more: Paul Mescal on Gladiator II

First female solo host

Yes, you read that right. While Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the ceremony several times as a double act, comedian Nikki Glaser will be the first woman to take the reins solo.

Some of the ceremony’s most memorable moments have come not from the stars, but the hosts themselves – Ricky Gervais‘s caustic takedowns of the A-listers in the audience were always a favourite.

It’s a big gig, with not just the audience to impress, but the millions who will watch and see the clips all over social media later on. Jo Koy, who hosted last year, didn’t go down particularly well.

Fortunately, this year’s show should be suitably sharp in the hands of US stand-up Glaser, a comedian who is not afraid of being savage.

“It’s the best of TV and film coming together with one common goal: to receive the love and validation they never got as children from their parents,” she said. “Sunday night is a night to celebrate TV and film, actors and directors, Xanax and tequila.”

The Golden Globes take place in LA, with the red carpet starting at about 11.30pm UK time and the ceremony starting at 1am on Monday.

Filmmaker Jeff Baena, the husband of actress Aubrey Plaza, has been found dead aged 47.

The US director and writer was known for films including Life After Beth and The Little Hours, in which Plaza starred.

He died on Friday, according to Los Angeles medical examiner records, viewed by E! News.

According to Deadline, the filmmaker’s family “is devastated and asks for privacy at this difficult time”.

The circumstances of his death are not yet clear.

Plaza, 40, who is known for TV series including Parks And Recreation and The White Lotus, and films such as Emily The Criminal, had been in a relationship with Baena since about 2011, and the pair married in 2021.

The pair frequently collaborated on his films. While working on his last movie, Spin Me Around, released in 2022, Plaza confirmed they had wed.

“So proud of my darling husband,” she wrote on Instagram in May 2021, “for dreaming up another film that takes us to italia to cause some more trouble”.

Baena was a graduate of New York University’s film school and became a production assistant for filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, known for films including Back To The Future and Forrest Gump, after moving to Los Angeles.

He also worked as an assistant editor for writer-director David O Russell (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook), with whom he co-wrote the 2004 indie comedy I Heart Huckabees, starring Jason Schwartzman, Naomi Watts, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin.

In 2014, Baena made his directorial debut with Life After Beth, a horror comedy, followed by Joshy, in which Plaza also appeared, in 2016. Both films were nominated for the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize.

His other credits included Horse Girl and the TV series Cinema Toast.

Plaza’s representatives have been contacted for comment.

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