Legendary Australian helmer Fred Schepisi (The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Barbarosa, Plenty, Roxanne, A Cry in the Dark, The Russia House, Six Degrees of Separation, The Eye of the Storm) is doing just fine, thanks. Young in spirit, full of vim and vigor, etc. But for a few moments last night, there was a seeming cause for concern.

It started and mercifully ended with a Jack Morrissey tweet that said “rest in peace, Fred Schepisi.” I immediately wrote a friend who knows Schepisi and asked if he’d heard anything. He asked me what was up, and I forwarded the Morrissey tweet. Morrissey had been Twitter-conversing with a Los Angeles-based journalist, and the subject of A Cry in the Dark (aka Evil Angels) came up, and somehow or some way the words “rest in peace” popped out.

Maybe Morrissey’s idea was that Schepisi’s work on this film was so good that he didn’t need to worry about anything more and that he could rest in peace, etc. Or something like that.

Journalist explanation to Schepisi pally (late last night or this morning): “One of Variety‘s TV critics tweeted that Saturday Night Live used the phrase ‘a dingo ate my baby’ and said that A Cry in the Dark has a long legacy. I tweeted that I love the film, and its depiction of armchair punters who are convinced they know details of a case, based only on the news. A third person tweeted in response ‘RIP, Fred Schepisi.’ I love his work. I love your work too. Let me know if there’s anything I need to do here.”