--- title: Rosemarie DeWitt on the Impact of Filmmaker Lynn Shelton description: Shelton, who died on May 15 at age 54, had an ability to make those she worked with feel like “the magic ingredient in the recipe,” DeWitt says. canonical: https://time.com/5840184/lynn-shelton-obituary/ author: Rosemarie DeWitt article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-05-21T10:10:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T08:46:50.414Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 'Lynn Was the Magic Ingredient.' Rosemarie DeWitt on the Impact of Filmmaker Lynn Shelton og:description: Shelton died on May 15 at age 54 og:url: https://time.com/5840184/lynn-shelton-obituary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec0c77e1fbe7173/698a0e52db29875203265615/lynn-shelton-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: lynn-shelton-obituary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Lynn Was the Magic Ingredient.' Rosemarie DeWitt on the Impact of Filmmaker Lynn Shelton twitter:description: Shelton died on May 15 at age 54 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec0c77e1fbe7173/698a0e52db29875203265615/lynn-shelton-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Lynn Was the Magic Ingredient.' Rosemarie DeWitt on the Impact of Filmmaker Lynn Shelton > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Rosemarie DeWitt](https://time.com/author/rosemarie-dewitt/) ## Rosemarie DeWitt May 21, 2020 10:10 AM UTC  Shelton in 2012 Shelton in 2012 Carlo Allegri—AP by [Rosemarie DeWitt](https://time.com/author/rosemarie-dewitt/) ## Rosemarie DeWitt May 21, 2020 10:10 AM UTC When I met Lynn Shelton, it was the most fast and furious love affair I think I’ve ever had with anybody in my life. An actress had dropped out of her film days before shooting was to begin on _Your Sister’s Sister_, and Lynn called me. I was working on another project but, because it was Lynn, I begged every-body I was working with to please let me do both. It ended up being one of the best creative experiences I ever had, so of course, I wanted to do it again. And again. Sadly we lost her way too soon, on May 15 at age 54. Lynn had the uncanny ability to make everyone she collaborated with feel like the magic ingredient in the recipe. Once, we were shooting a pivotal scene and didn’t know what needed to happen. Lynn decided to just roll the camera and fly. When she watched it back, she realized that was the lightning-in-a-bottle scene, and she built much of the film backward around it. Warm-blooded human beings took precedence over any idea that she had come up with. Lynn was always open to letting the humanity of a film take over. 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