Poor Lynn Shelton, the much-admired indie director who peaked with Laggies, has died at age 54. Sick for a week, underlying blood condition, took off last night…God.

Shelton had been in a relationship with podcaster/comedian/actor Marc Maron. Here’s how Maron shared:

“I have some awful news. Lynn passed away last night. She collapsed yesterday morning after having been ill for a week. There was a previously unknown, underlying condition. It was not COVID-19. The doctors could not save her. They tried. Hard.

“I loved her very much, as I know many of you did as well. It’s devastating. I am leveled, heartbroken and in complete shock and don’t really know how to move forward in this moment. I needed you all to know. I don’t know some of you. Some I do. I’m just trying to let the people who were important to her know.

“She was a beautiful, kind, loving, charismatic artist. Her spirit was pure joy. She made me happy. I made her happy. We were happy. I made her laugh all the time. We laughed a lot. We were starting a life together. I really can’t believe [this] is happening. This is a horrendous, sad loss.”

I was a fairly big fan of Shelton’s Humpday (’09). I was less enthused about Your Sister’s Sister (’11), Touchy Feely (’13) and Outside (’17). I haven’t seen her latest feature, Sword of Trust, which starred Maron. Shelton directed four episodes of Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, which I’ve seen the first two episodes of.

But Laggies, which Shelton directed and was written by Andrea Seigel, was really delightful, or so I felt. I interviewed Shelton about this disarming comedy at Sundance ’14. Laggies costarred Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell, Kaitlyn Dever, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper and Mark Webber.

I’m very, very sorry about this. Hugs and condolences to family, friends, colleagues, fans.

Posted on 7.16.14: “I wasn’t expecting that much from Lynn Shelton‘s Laggies (A24, 2.26). Having more or less hated Touchy Feely, I thought she might be on a downturn. But surprise — Laggies is the best Shelton pic since Humpday (’09), and that was essentially a bromance.

“Laggies is a Keira Knightley movie aimed at women and couples, but I swear to God Shelton and screenwriter Andrea Siegel get it right.

“The only problem is that Knightley’s character lies her teeth off in almost every scene or something like 80% of the film. She doesn’t lie emotionally or behaviorally in our eyes but she’s almost constantly fibbing to…you know what? This needs a more thorough explanation and I can’t tap one out in the back of a moving cab.” — posted on 1.17 during Sundance Film Festival.