Jeff

Good morning! Happy 2025. I hope you guys all had a nice New Year's break. Matt and I rented a big mansion for just the two of us to ring in the new year. It had a pretty nice hot tub and a big screen TV, where we watched Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen do their thing in Times Square. It was way too much house for just the two of us and I think we should've just stayed home. Matt strongly disagrees.

I wanted to take a moment and talk about my friend Jeff who suddenly passed away Friday. That night, Marilyn and I had gone out to a friend's house for a game night. It was really fun. We played this game called Secret Hitler... It was sort of an advanced board game version of Mafia... complicated enough to keep everyone on their toes and pretty soon everyone was at each other's throats: lying, double crossing and scheming... The thought crossed my mind: I wonder if Jeff knows about this game....

The next morning I woke up a little hungover from the wine and saw a text from a friend: "can’t believe it about jeff" - I didn't know what he was talking about - Jeff Goldblum? I had to shake off my sleepiness and get some coffee and get down to my garage as I had these one on one zoom sessions for On Cinema scheduled for 8am ... another text came in from Fred: Jeff Baena???? - oh shit. I googled him knowing what i'd find... Jeff Baena dead... and then another article's headline, the word: Suicide.... 47... My knees buckled.

Minutes later, I was in my zoom session, placing my feelings on hold for a few hours as more texts from friends rolled in.

I'd known Jeff for over 20 years, as he'd been a college friend of my ex-girlfriend and one of the few people I knew when Eric and I moved to LA in 2004. I didn't see much of him but would occasionally run into him and a few times attended his weekly poker nights. but the stress was too much for me, and after not attending his various poker and game nights I stopped getting the email invites.

Sometime around 2008 or so me and some Abso editors started playing this game based on Battlestar Galactic and Jeff joined us for a few games. It was sort of like Mafia I guess - but complicated and usually ended up being a game of dice by the end of it.

Years passed, and in the spring of 2021, I got a text from him out of the blue (during an office hours) I called him later and he casually offered me a part in a movie he was setting up to shoot in Tuscany in the summer with a murderer's row of fun and funny people. A free ride to Italy during the dark days of covid felt like a gift from the heavens. I quickly accepted.

I know I've spoken many times about how impactful that summer was. It was such great fun and at the center of it all was Jeff. He was not only directing the movie, he seemed to be directing our experience in Tuscany with great care, love and concern for our happiness. He was so excited and proud to show us what he loved about the food, the wine and the history of the region.   

Naturally, Jeff and I got much closer during that trip, with some nice one on one times, driving up to Cinque Terre and working late hours on set. The time and attention he gave us was all the more remarkable after talking to him months later and leaning how tough the shoot was - many, many problems plagued the production and while he was giving his time to us he was also dealing with so much stress it seemed almost unbelievable.

(jeff at the center of the table where he belongs...) 

After the shoot we tried to keep the band together with a text thread and promises to hang more often, but life happens and time passes. I did manage to make a few more game nights, and jeff and I met for a lunch... A few swims at his place in the summer... and finally a big party at his house for Aubrey's birthday this past summer. That night, Jeff and I ended up in his basement where he had set up some instruments and we jammed for a good 30 minutes. I didn't see him again after that, but he was kind enough to send me a nice text after my heart procedure.

Probably just a coincidence that he crossed my mind the day he died, right?

Marilyn, who knew him through me, said "I'm pissed because I won't get to see another movie from him." It's true, I loved his movies too. His best being The Little Hours. It's a great one. I highly recommend it. Our movie, Spin Me Round is fun too! And you can see a little taste of our time together.

All of us who knew Jeff are sad, angry, confused... heartbroken. I didn't know him well enough to have any idea why he'd do something so... violently FINAL. My year of not knowing SHIT rolls on!

Please please please let this be a reminder if you are feeling any suicidal tendencies - DO NOT do it! Did you know you can dial 988 to reach a suicide hotline? i didn't know that until I just googled it. (jeez I hope the cops don't show up at my house because I googled that!)

Can't wait to see you all Thursday!

P&L, T