Bad Feeling Magazine Podcast # 12 with Jeff Baena (Life After Beth)

Jeff Baena has had an interesting career arc. He made his debut as a writer in 2004 with I Heart Huckabees, David O. Russell’s wacky existential comedy, and has now returned with Life After Beth, a romantic zombie film starring Aubrey Plaza. While zombie comedies are nothing new these days, Life After Beth was actually envisioned back when Baena was writing I Heart Huckabees, and is more concerned with the inter-personal relationships between the characters than with the specific zombie genre.

The film stars Baena’s real-life girlfriend Aubrey Plaza as Beth Slocum, a young woman who dies suddenly after a snake bite, only to awaken after her funeral as a zombie, with no memory of what happened to her. She returns home to her parents (John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon) who do their best to shelter her from the truth, until her boyfriend Zach (Dane DeHann) accidentally discovers her. The pair try to continue their relationship where they left off, but have to contend with Beth’s uncontrollable urge for human flesh, as well as the deterioration of their whole town, as it quickly becomes afflicted by the zombie outbreak.

Life After Beth is dark comedy that posits what it would actually be like to be reunited with a dead loved one, and how that relationship might affect both parties. This is a relatively dark film, but the tone is balanced by some deft comedic turns by its impressive cast, including the always reliable John C. Reilly as Beth’s perplexed father, and Matthew Gray Gubler as Zach’s abrasive, knuckle-head brother. We discussed Matthew Gray Gubler’s role in the film when he was on the podcast earlier this summer, which you can check out here.

We caught up with Jeff at the film’s premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival in July to discuss the origins of the story, his start in the industry, and working with the film’s stellar cast. You can listen to our interview with Jeff  via the embedded media player below, or right-click and “save as” here: Episode #12 – Jeff Baena (Life After Beth).

Life After Beth is available digitally now, and will be released on blu-ray on October 21st.