Aubrey Plaza says it compares her grief over the death of her husband, Jeff Bena, to a “worst, huge ocean.”
The actor spoke with Amy Poehler on the podcast Good Hang, informing her former park and recreational co-stars in her most detailed public statements that it was a daily struggle to overcome her sadness. The death of screenwriter Baena, at the age of 47, in January was determined to be a suicide.
“Overall, I'm here and I'm working,” Plaza tells Polar at the start of the interview after being asked how she's dealing with it. “I'm really grateful to travel around the world. I think it's okay, but it's clearly like a daily struggle.”
She likens sadness to images from an Apple TV+ horror film starring Miles Terror and Anya Taylor Joy.
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“Did you see the movie “Gay”? ” Plaza asks Polar. “In the film, there are cliffs on one side, there are cliffs on the other side, there are canyons in between, and it's filled with all these monster people trying to get them,” says Plaza. “And when I saw it, I vowed, 'It feels like what my sadness is,' or what it is. It's where it's always, there's a terrible, huge ocean, which you can see right away. ”
Plaza adds: “And sometimes I jump into it, just being there, sometimes I see it. And sometimes I try to get away from it. But it's just there, the monster people taking me around like Miles Terror or Anya Taylor Joy.”
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Baena was a writer and director who frequently collaborated with Plaza. He cowrote David O. Russell's 2004 film Heart Huckabee and wrote and directed five of his own films. Plaza starred in his 2014 directorial debut, Zombie Comedy Life Afterbeth.
After being mainly silent since Baena's death, Plaza is now promoting her new film, “Honey Don't”! Director Ethan Cohen's dark comedy has Margaret Quarry as a private investigator looking for a malicious secondment in Bakersfield, California.
If you or someone you know is in crisis and need help, resources are available. In an emergency, call 911 for immediate help.
For a directory of support services in your area, see the Canadian Suicide Prevention Association.
Learn more about how to help people in danger.
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