Aubrey Plaza is no stranger to balancing comedy with pathos, but in a recent conversation, she revealed just how personally The Gorge (which is streaming with an Apple TV+ subscription) resonated with her. While speaking on Amy Poehler’s podcast, Plaza used the new horror movie as a way to articulate what grief has felt like for her following the death of her husband, writer-director Jeff Baena. For that film's director, Scott Derrickson, those words weren’t just flattering, they were profoundly moving.
Derrickson responded to Plaza’s words during an interview with EW, admitting he was deeply touched. The Doctor Strange filmmaker explained what it was like to hear that his work resonated so deeply, saying:
I mean, how could I not be moved by that? It was very touching. I think she was being really earnest and, of course, it makes you as a filmmaker feel good that your work is out there giving people experiences and helping them define their own feelings.
The Black Phone director was careful to note that Plaza’s comments, while moving, weren’t necessarily tied exclusively to his latest work. Instead, he framed them as part of a larger truth about storytelling, explaining:
I don't think it was something unique to The Gorge... I think that she just happened to talk about it the way I've talked about movies, giving clarity to my own experiences and my own feelings many times.
For a bit more context, Plaza, whose husband Jeff Baena tragically died this past January, recently opened up to fellow Parks and Rec alum Amy Poehler on her podcast Good Hang. The Agatha All Along star didn’t just casually mention the film but went into detail about how its imagery mirrored her own grief. Describing The Gorge’s premise, where characters guard a mist-covered expanse filled with monsters, she explained:
It's an alien movie with Miles Teller. In the movie, there's a cliff on one side and a cliff on the other side, and a gorge in between that's filled with monster people trying to get them… I swear, when I watched it, I was like, 'That feels like what my grief is like,' or what grief could be like. At all times, there's a giant ocean of awfulness that's right there, and I can see it. Sometimes I just want to dive into it and be in it, and sometimes I look at it. Sometimes I try to get away from it. It's always there, and the monster people are trying to get me — like Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.
It was an unusually vulnerable moment for an actress whose television and best movie roles often stem from her sardonic edge in projects, especially in shows like Parks and Recreation and The White Lotus. But it also underscored something universal: how art, even a monster-driven action film, can provide clarity about life’s most challenging experiences.
On the surface, The Gorge is a great original Apple TV+ movie that tells the story of a tense survival journey starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy as operatives confronting monsters across an ominous chasm. And though The Gorge didn't quite resonate with critics, Plaza’s comments clearly highlight the film’s deeper subtext. That endless gorge, filled with unseen threats, doubles as a metaphor for the emotional weight of loss — always there, always threatening to pull someone under.
It’s that layered reading that makes Derrickson’s work so impactful. While viewers may come for the scares or spectacle, they often leave with something more personal: a mirror of their own struggles.
Both Scott Derrickson and Aubrey Plaza are keeping busy with 2025 movie releases. Plaza’s collaboration with one half of the Coen brothers, Ethan Coen’s dark comedy Honey Don’t, is currently playing in theaters, so be sure to check your local listings to catch it. Meanwhile, Derrickson not only has The Gorge streaming now, but he’s also gearing up for the release of the highly anticipated The Black Phone 2, which hits theaters on October 17.
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