section_path: Career/2012–2017: Directorial debut and producing with Destro
section_name: 2012–2017: Directorial debut and producing with Destro
paragraph_text: 2012–2017: Directorial debut and producing with Destro
  
  Baena had planned for the comedy-drama Joshy to be his directorial debut, but actor and collaborator Adam Pally had to postpone for personal reasons. Baena then decided to work on the zombie comedy Life After Beth, from a script he started writing in 2003, which became his debut. This film had been in production but shelved shortly after it was written, and was only picked back up after comic actress Aubrey Plaza was looking for a role and her agent remembered the script; with Plaza attached, the production resumed. Flavorwire wrote that "Baena's control of the material is occasionally uncertain", while Mark Kermode felt Baena "kept things just the right side of believable, eschewing explanation in favour of cracked domesticity." Life After Beth received mixed reviews; the Rotten Tomatoes (RT) critics' consensus suggested the idea was too thin to sustain a whole film, though bolstered by Plaza's performance. In 2016, it was ranked the 38th best ever zombie film and described as both "the best zom-rom-com since Shaun Of The Dead " and a " mumblecore relationship break-up zomcom". It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014, the same festival at which Joshy, as Baena's second film, premiered in 2016.
  
  After Life After Beth, Baena worked on adapting Lysergic, the autobiography of Krystle Cole that he had optioned, and suggested he might like to direct Doctor Strange as he was a fan of the character. When production resumed on Joshy, Baena provided his large comedic cast with a 20-page outline, rather than a script, as an experiment to "keep people in the moment." Baena did not audition but cast people he knew would be able to work in such a film. The film's RT critics' consensus highlighted Baena's direction for "strik a unique, disarmingly heartfelt blend of dark humor and tragedy". The Los Angeles Times praised that despite its improvisational nature, "the film never feels unfocused or messy"; Christy Lemire felt Baena's work had improved since his debut; and Glenn Kenny noted Baena's skill in tonally dictating his film. Joshy was ranked the fifth best ever mumblecore film separately by screenwriter Jason Hellerman and critic Mike Bedard, with Bedard also describing it as "post-mumblecore".
  
  Jake Johnson as well as some of Baena's filmmaker friends had acting roles in Joshy; the previous year, Baena had similarly made a cameo in Johnson's 2015 film Digging for Fire, the premise of which was based on the strange things found when Johnson, Baena and friends had dug out Johnson's garden. Joshy was Baena's first film to feature actress Alison Brie, albeit briefly, before she had a main role in his third film, the 2017 black comedy The Little Hours. Plaza also starred in The Little Hours, for whom it was her producing debut. She produced alongside Liz Destro of Destro Films, who had produced Baena's previous films; Baena only proceeded to develop The Little Hours after pitching it to Destro. Inspired by passages from The Decameron, which Baena had studied, the film was again largely improvised and based in the disconnect of medieval beliefs to modern ones; Baena saw the potential for humor and tragedy in this idea. Reviews were impressed with how well the concept worked, and praised Baena's comedic direction, with Mick LaSalle writing that "Baena combines a zany comic vision with a rare control of tone. There's no winking or nudging, no straining for laughs. Baena devised the material, and he trusts it."
  
  Baena had planned for the comedy-drama Joshy to be his directorial debut, but actor and collaborator Adam Pally had to postpone for personal reasons. Baena then decided to work on the zombie comedy Life After Beth, from a script he started writing in 2003, which became his debut. This film had been in production but shelved shortly after it was written, and was only picked back up after comic actress Aubrey Plaza was looking for a role and her agent remembered the script; with Plaza attached, the production resumed. Flavorwire wrote that "Baena's control of the material is occasionally uncertain", while Mark Kermode felt Baena "kept things just the right side of believable, eschewing explanation in favour of cracked domesticity." Life After Beth received mixed reviews; the Rotten Tomatoes (RT) critics' consensus suggested the idea was too thin to sustain a whole film, though bolstered by Plaza's performance. In 2016, it was ranked the 38th best ever zombie film and described as both "the best zom-rom-com since Shaun Of The Dead " and a " mumblecore relationship break-up zomcom". It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014, the same festival at which Joshy, as Baena's second film, premiered in 2016.
  
  After Life After Beth, Baena worked on adapting Lysergic, the autobiography of Krystle Cole that he had optioned, and suggested he might like to direct Doctor Strange as he was a fan of the character. When production resumed on Joshy, Baena provided his large comedic cast with a 20-page outline, rather than a script, as an experiment to "keep people in the moment." Baena did not audition but cast people he knew would be able to work in such a film. The film's RT critics' consensus highlighted Baena's direction for "strik a unique, disarmingly heartfelt blend of dark humor and tragedy". The Los Angeles Times praised that despite its improvisational nature, "the film never feels unfocused or messy"; Christy Lemire felt Baena's work had improved since his debut; and Glenn Kenny noted Baena's skill in tonally dictating his film. Joshy was ranked the fifth best ever mumblecore film separately by screenwriter Jason Hellerman and critic Mike Bedard, with Bedard also describing it as "post-mumblecore".
  
  Jake Johnson as well as some of Baena's filmmaker friends had acting roles in Joshy; the previous year, Baena had similarly made a cameo in Johnson's 2015 film Digging for Fire, the premise of which was based on the strange things found when Johnson, Baena and friends had dug out Johnson's garden. Joshy was Baena's first film to feature actress Alison Brie, albeit briefly, before she had a main role in his third film, the 2017 black comedy The Little Hours. Plaza also starred in The Little Hours, for whom it was her producing debut. She produced alongside Liz Destro of Destro Films, who had produced Baena's previous films; Baena only proceeded to develop The Little Hours after pitching it to Destro. Inspired by passages from The Decameron, which Baena had studied, the film was again largely improvised and based in the disconnect of medieval beliefs to modern ones; Baena saw the potential for humor and tragedy in this idea. Reviews were impressed with how well the concept worked, and praised Baena's comedic direction, with Mick LaSalle writing that "Baena combines a zany comic vision with a rare control of tone. There's no winking or nudging, no straining for laughs. Baena devised the material, and he trusts it."