Alec Baldwin said his fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” and the aftermath left his wife Hilaria “traumatized” and made him unwilling to see the film’s final cut.
Baldwin, 66, discussed the situation in an interview with Variety, calling it “the most difficult thing I’ve ever dealt with in my life.”
Baldwin was rehearsing a scene with a gun on set outside Santa Fe when it discharged, killing 42-year-old Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza in Oct. 2021.
SAGindie Sundance Filmmakers Reception
Fred Hayes/Getty Images for SAGindie Halyna Hutchins attends the SAGindie Sundance Filmmakers Reception on January 28, 2019 in Park City, Utah. (Fred Hayes/Getty Images for SAGindie)
After several starts and stops, Baldwin went on trial for involuntary manslaughter in July before the case was shockingly dismissed when the judge learned the prosecution had withheld evidence. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for mishandling live bullets on the set and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin and the other producers were sued for wrongful death by Hutchins’ husband Matthew and reached a settlement that made the widower an executive producer on the film, which moved production to Montana and completed photography in 2023.
“Beyond the victims themselves, the thing that most pains me is what it did to [Hilaria]. My wife has been very, very traumatized from this,” he told the entertainment industry outlet.
“There has been a lot of pain. When you are married to somebody and everything was going fairly well and we had seven kids … and the floor falls out. It’s very frightening and very disturbing,” he said.
He added that the shooting will always overshadow the film and he never intends to watch it.
“I gave them back the fee in the budget. I waived all my backend. I gave everything to her husband,” he said.
“And I hope the movie is sold, and that he gets his money. We all made a deal with him and we all want to follow through. But this idea that people — who shall remain nameless — say, ‘You are profiting from this!’ That is absolutely wrong,” he added.
Following the movie’s premiere last week at a Polish film festival — without Baldwin in attendance — Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, criticized Baldwin.
“Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death,” Solovey said in a statement. “Instead, he seeks to unjustly profit from his killing of my daughter.”
The film has sold in multiple international markets, but has not yet found a U.S. distributor.
