Rust: accidental shooting of Halyna Hutchins

[GeneChing]

Good statement from Brandon Bruce Lee's twitter. Brandon was the first person I thought of when I heard this news.


Sheriff: Alec Baldwin Discharged Prop Firearm That Left Cinematographer Dead and Director Wounded (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/alec-baldwin-rust-movie-incident-1235035095/)
An investigation is underway and no charges have been filed, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department.

BY TRILBY BERESFORD, RYAN PARKER
OCTOBER 21, 2021 4:56PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/alec_baldwin.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
JIM SPELLMAN/GETTY IMAGES

A prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin on the New Mexico movie set of Rust, killing a cinematographer and wounding the director, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department.

Director of photography Halyna Hutchins, 42, died Thursday after being injured when the prop gun was “discharged” by Baldwin, the Western’s producer and star. Hutchins had been transported by helicopter to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the sheriff’s department said.

A spokesperson from Rust said in a statement: “The entire cast and crew has been absolutely devastated by today’s tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Halyna’s family and loved ones. We have halted production on the film for an undetermined period of time and are fully cooperating with the Santa Fe Police Department’s investigation. We will be providing counseling services to everyone connected to the film as we work to process this awful event.”

The Ukraine-born, Los Angeles-based DP graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory in 2015. Her credits included indie films Archenemy, Blindfire and The Mad Hatter.

The second victim was the film’s director, Joel Souza, 48, who was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center. Juan Ríos, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, told THR on Thursday evening that he was in critical condition, However, on Friday morning, Ríos said his condition is unclear and referred to the hospital for that information.

An update on the investigation will likely not occur until next week, Ríos said, as interviews are ongoing and evidence is being collected. Baldwin was interviewed Thursday by investigators at the sheriff’s department, Ríos said.

Directors Guild of America president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement that the DGA is “incredibly saddened” to hear of Hutchins’ death and Souza’s injuries. “We await further details and a full investigation. Our hearts go out to Halyna’s family, to Joel, and to everyone impacted.”

Ríos told The Hollywood Reporter that an active investigation was underway and no charges have been filed.

“According to investigators it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.”

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Bonanza Creek Ranch set near Santa Fe, New Mexico, at 1:50 p.m. MT after a 911 call indicated an individual had been shot on set.

A spokesperson from the production said the “accident” involved the misfire of a prop gun with blanks. “Production has been halted for the time being. The safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority,” the initial statement said.

The Local 600 labor union, of which Hutchins was a member, said in a statement, “The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event. This is a terrible loss, and we mourn the passing of a member of our Guild’s family.”

Firearm accidents on Hollywood sets are extremely rare, but do occur. In 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of famed martial arts star Bruce Lee, was accidentally shot and killed on the set of The Crow by another actor who fired a revolver that had been improperly prepared.

In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum was involved in a prop gun incident on the set of CBS’ Cover Up. During a break in filming, Hexum accidentally shot himself while playing with the firearm, not realizing a blank was still in the prop gun. He died from his injuries six days later at the age of 26.

The official Twitter page for Brandon Bruce Lee posted: “Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on “Rust”. No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.”

In Rust, Baldwin stars as infamous Western outlaw Harland Rust. When his estranged grandson is convicted of an accidental murder and sentenced to hang, Rust travels to Kansas to break him out of prison. The two fugitives must then outrun U.S. Marshal Wood Helm and bounty hunter Fenton “Preacher” Lang.

The film also stars Frances Fisher, Jensen Ackles and Travis Fimmel.


Oct. 22, 7:51 a.m. Updated to reflect Joel Souza’s condition is unknown.
10:10 p.m. Updated with statement from the DGA.

[GeneChing]

I'm splitting this off from the Stunts-injuries-amp-deaths (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70743-Stunts-injuries-amp-deaths/) into its own indie thread - Rust: accidental shooting of Halyna Hutchins - and tagging our Brandon-Lee (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?17174-Question-about-Brandon-Lee) thread too because this triggers that memory so much.


Ernie Hudson Heartbroken Over ‘Rust’ Shooting, Says He Can’t Watch ‘The Crow’ (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ernie-hudson-brandon-lee-movie-the-crow-1235036439/)
The iconic actor, who was in the Brandon Lee film, agrees with those who are calling for Hollywood to ban real guns from sets after the latest tragedy.

BY RYAN PARKER

OCTOBER 25, 2021 12:27PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/MCDCROW_EC003.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Ernie Hudson in 'The Crow' EVERETT COLLECTION

Ernie Hudson, like the rest of Hollywood, is reeling from last week’s deadly shooting on the set of Rust where a gun discharged by Alec Baldwin killed director of photography Halyna Hutchins and wounded the film’s director.

The iconic Ghostbusters star knows firsthand about the devastation left in the wake of such a tragedy as he appeared in The Crow, the 1994 film in which Brandon Lee was fatally wounded.

Hudson told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday he was heartbroken for Hutchins’ family and for Baldwin, whom he has known for years after the pair worked on 1985’s Love on the Run.

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Hudson tells THR. “It bought back a lot of memories of Brandon. We go on, we keep moving forward — but there is always that space in your life. You’re heartbroken. You have no control, but you still have to process it and how do you do that? I am just so heartbroken that anything like that can happen again.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/MSDCROW_EC007.jpg?w=300
Brandon Lee in ‘The Crow’ EVERETT COLLECTION
The son of legendary martial artist and film star Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee was fatally wounded in March 1993 on The Crow set by a prop gun. He was 28. His sister, Shannon, told THR last week that the family supports a growing initiative to ban real guns from sets. Hudson says he also supports that move.

“If that’s the answer, then I would like to see real guns removed from sets,” Hudson concurs. “I don’t think it is necessary to have real guns and live rounds on the set. We have the technology now to put flashes in without the [blank cartridge] rounds. I thought we found a way to do it safer.”

The Rust investigation is ongoing and Hudson notes all the facts need to come out. However, he can speak to being on productions that felt rushed. “The problem is when they start cutting budgets and they start being in a hurry,” he says. “That is what happened on The Crow. They were pushing to get it done. You put lives at risk.”

Hudson also expressed grief for Baldwin, nothing that the late Michael Massee was devastated after he fired the gun that killed Brandon Lee. “There is nothing worse than something like that happening,” Hudson says. “I remember Michael, his life was never the same.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/MSDCROW_EC011.jpg?w=300
Rochelle Davis and Hudson in ‘The Crow’ EVERETT COLLECTION
In The Crow, Hudson plays police Sgt. Daryl Albrecht, who responds to the scene where Brandon Lee’s Eric Draven and Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas) are brutally murdered on Oct. 30, the informal Devil’s Night. Draven rises from the grave with mystical powers a year later to avenge their deaths and seeks the help of Sgt. Albrecht.

“I can’t watch The Crow,” Hudson admits. “It breaks my heart, and I can’t get past it. So much of it was action stuff, but Brandon and I got a chance to act together.”

Noting that one of his favorite scenes in the film is an emotional moment when Draven comes to visit Sgt. Albrecht after he arises from the grave, Hudson laments: “He was such a great guy. And you think about all the potential.”

[GeneChing]

Armorer on Baldwin set said guns are dangerous only 'in the wrong hands' (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/armorer-baldwin-set-said-guns-are-dangerous-only-wrong-hands-rcna3752)
“I think the best part about my job is just showing people who are normally kind of freaked out by guns, like, how safe they can be,” Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said on a podcast.
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-2000w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2021-10/211025-rust-set-bonanza-creek-ONETIMEUSE-mn-1620-cd5646.jpg
Police at the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set near Santa Fe, N.M., on Friday. Roberto E. Rosales / Albuquerque Journal via Zuma
Oct. 25, 2021, 2:56 PM PDT
By Andrew Blankstein and Corky Siemaszko
Guns are “not really problematic unless put in the wrong hands,” the rookie armorer on the set of Alec Baldwin’s ill-fated movie “Rust” said last month on a podcast.

“I think the best part about my job is just showing people who are normally kind of freaked out by guns, like, how safe they can be,” the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, said on the Voices of the West podcast. “A lot of it, for me, is just being able to show the world, like, you know, guns are awesome.”

Gutierrez-Reed, 24, a former model, is at the center of a death investigation after actor Alec Baldwin, using a gun that was supposed to be safe, shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set Thursday and badly wounded director Joel Souza.

Police in New Mexico, where the Western was being shot at the Bonanza Ranch outside Santa Fe, have not charged anybody.

The deadly shooting has raised questions about whether, in the age of computerized visual effects, there is a need for real armaments, along with calls to outlaw potentially lethal firearms on movie sets.

https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2021-10/211025-halyna-hutchins-mn-1630-68164a.jpg
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Swen Studios via Reuters
Gutierrez-Reed, who could not be reached for comment and who has made no public statements about the deadly mishap, was in charge of weapons on the set of “Rust.”

In the podcast, she said her father, stuntman Thell Reed, began teaching her about guns and gun safety when she was 16. But she acknowledged that she was still learning the ropes.

“I think loading blanks is like the scariest thing to me, because I was, like, ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about it,’” she said.

As the armorer on the set, Gutierrez-Reed was supposed to make sure that the guns being used in “Rust” were secure and safe to use, industry experts have said.

After Baldwin shot Hutchins and Souza, Gutierrez-Reed “took the spent casing out” and handed the prop gun over to investigators, according to a newly released affidavit from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.

Nine spent shell casings and three black revolvers were among the 28 items that were seized from the set, the sheriff’s office said.

Gutierrez-Reed “set up” the prop gun and gave it to assistant director David Halls, who, in turn, handed it to Baldwin during a rehearsal and yelled “cold gun” to indicate that there were no live rounds in it, according to warrants released by the sheriff’s office.

Baldwin was sitting in a pew on the set of a church and “practicing a cross draw” when the gun went off, according to warrants.

In the podcast, Gutierrez-Reed said she had not always intended to become an armorer.

“I used to do modeling a bit, and then I decided modeling didn’t really have any sustenance and people didn’t really see you for anything more than face value, so I decided to get more into this line of work,” she said.

Gutierrez-Reed said that before she joined the “Rust” crew, she had just wrapped up her first job as armorer on the set of “The Old Way,” which stars Nicolas Cage as a retired gunslinger.

“I was really nervous about it at first, and I almost didn’t take the job, because I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but doing it, like, it went really smoothly,” she said. “It was a really badass way to start off a really long and cool career, I’m hoping.”


Andrew Blankstein
Andrew Blankstein is an investigative reporter for NBC News. He covers the Western United States, specializing in crime, courts and homeland security.

Corky Siemaszko
Corky Siemaszko is a senior writer for NBC News Digital.
This is the ultimate fail in terms of gun safety.

[GeneChing]

Eliza Hutton Breaks Silence 28 Years After Fiancé Brandon Lee's Death in the Wake of Rust Shooting (https://people.com/movies/eliza-hutton-breaks-silence-28-years-after-fiance-brandon-lees-death-in-the-wake-of-rust-shooting/)
Eliza Hutton, Brandon Lee's fiancée, is urging "those in positions to make change to consider alternatives to real guns on sets"
By Dan Heching
October 25, 2021 11:04 PM

Eliza Hutton is coming forward for the first time since her fiancé Brandon Lee died following last week's tragic accidental shooting on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust.

Brandon died at 28 in a similar accident in March of 1993 on the set of his film The Crow. Hutton, 57, tells PEOPLE that the accident on the New Mexico set of Rust that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza is yet another "avoidable tragedy."

"Twenty eight years ago, I was shattered by the shock and grief of losing the love of my life, Brandon Lee, so senselessly. My heart aches again now for Halyna Hutchins' husband and son, and for all those left in the wake of this avoidable tragedy," Hutton tells PEOPLE.

"I urge those in positions to make change to consider alternatives to real guns on sets," she says.

Also this week, Hutton posted a photo of herself with Brandon taken in Venice, Italy, in October 1992 when they got engaged to her private Instagram account.

"There's no such thing as a prop gun," she wrote in the caption.

https://imagesvc.meredithcorp.io/v3/mm/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.onecms.io%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F20%2F2021%2F10%2F26%2F Eliza-Hutton-and-Brandon-Lee-3.jpg
CREDIT: COURTESY ELIZA HUTTON
The pair had planned their wedding for April 17, 1993, after The Crow was scheduled to wrap production. Lee, son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, was killed on set on March 31st during the final week of production.

Brandon was killed when another actor shot him using a gun that was supposed to have only been loaded with blanks.

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Brandon Lee, Eliza Hutton | CREDIT: COURTESY ELIZA HUTTON
On Friday, Brandon's sister Shannon Lee shared a statement in the wake of the Rust shooting.

"Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on Rust. No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period💔" she wrote on her brother's Twitter page, where she tweets on behalf of his legacy.

As investigations into what happened on the Rust set continue, a Change.org petition has been launched calling for the ban on all real firearms on film and television productions.

The petition was created by Bandar Albuliwi, a director who graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory, where Hutchins was also an alumnus.

"Halyna was a talented cinematographer and a good friend whose life was taken tragically due to a real firearm being used on set," Albuliwi said. "We need to make sure this never happens again. There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century. Real guns are no longer needed on film production sets. Change needs to happen before additional talented lives are lost."

On Monday evening, the petition had been signed by almost 29,000 people out of the 35,000 requested signatures.

threads
Rust-accidental-shooting-of-Halyna-Hutchins (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72174-Rust-accidental-shooting-of-Halyna-Hutchins)
Brandon-Lee (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?17174-Question-about-Brandon-Lee)

[GeneChing]

People
Rust Armorer Sues Ammunition Supplier for Allegedly Providing 'Both Dummy and Live' Rounds on Set (https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rust-armorer-sues-ammunition-supplier-023650109.html)
Alexia Fernández
Wed, January 12, 2022, 6:36 PM·3 min read
In this article:
Halyna Hutchins
Ukrainian-American cinematographer and investigative journalist
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer at the center of the Rust shooting investigation, is suing the ammunition supplier for the film.

Gutierrez-Reed, 24, claims Seth Kenney's company PDQ Arm and Prop, LLC supplied a mix of live and dummy ammunition prior to the fatal shooting that took the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

In the complaint filed on Wednesday in New Mexico, Gutierrez-Reed said Kenney's company "distributed and sold prop ammunition which presented an unreasonable risk of injury, without warning of the risks that could have been avoided."

Furthermore, the armorer said in the documents that the ammunition supplier "prepared dummy ammunition cartridge boxes from surplus ammunition stockpiles that comprised of both dummy and live ammunition."

PEOPLE has reached out to Kenney and the Sante Fe District Attorney's Office for comment.

"These false representations caused live rounds to be introduced on set, resulting in a foreseeably catastrophic outcome, and causing damages to persons on the Rust set," the complaint continued. "The introduction of live rounds onto the set, which no one anticipated, combined with the rushed and chaotic atmosphere, created a perfect storm for a safety incident."

Gutierrez-Reed is asking for a jury trial, as well as damages and attorneys' fees.

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Halyna Hutchins
James Gourley/Shutterstock Halyna Hutchins

On Dec. 2, Kenney told Good Morning America that the live rounds found by investigators on the set of the film were not supplied by him or his company.

"It's not a possibility that they came from PDQ or from myself personally," Kenney said at the time.

​​In early November, Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys, Jason Bowles and Robert Gorence told Today they were looking into the possibility that someone intentionally "sabotaged" the set before Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed Hutchins with a prop gun.

Bowles said Gutierrez-Reed loaded a bullet into the prop gun that killed Hutchins from a box of dummy rounds and only found the live round later.

He explained, "We don't know whether that live round came from that box. We're assuming it did. We're assuming someone put the live round in that box."

Bowles told Today anchor Savannah Guthrie that someone placing a live round in the dummy box would "have to have the purpose of sabotaging the set," adding, "There's no other reason you would do that." The lawyer did not address the possibility that the live round could have been placed in the dummy box unintentionally.

When Guthrie asked if his theory was that "somebody intentionally placed a live round into a box of dummies for the purpose of it ending up in a weapon that would be used on set," Bowles said he and Gorence did not have a theory yet, but were considering sabotage as "one of the possibilities."

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set of rust
Jae C Hong/AP/Shutterstock Set of 'Rust'

"I believe that somebody who would do that would want to sabotage the set, want to prove point, want to say that they're disgruntled, they're unhappy," Bowles said. "And we know that people had already walked off the set the day before."

Gutierrez-Reed previously said "no live ammo is ever kept on set," a statement later rebutted by Sante Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza, who told Today that was incorrect.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"That was a live round that struck and killed Ms. Hutchins, so that's not an accurate statement as far as I'm concerned," he said.

At a press conference, Mendoza said investigators discovered "500 rounds of ammunition" on the set, including, "a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and what we are suspecting are live rounds." Seems like a CYA move. The armourer should've know which were blanks and which were live.

[GeneChing]

Alec Baldwin Describes Return to Set for First Time Since ‘Rust’ Shooting as “Strange” (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/alec-baldwin-rust-shooting-calls-filming-97-minutes-strange-1235090114/)
Baldwin opened up about his return to work on the U.K. set of independent feature '97 Minutes' — his first job since the death of Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21, 2021 — in an Instagram video.

BY ABBEY WHITE

FEBRUARY 9, 2022 3:01PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1236259519.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Alec Baldwin MEGA/GC IMAGES

Alec Baldwin described the experience of returning to a movie set as “strange” while recalling the death of Rust director of photography Halyna Hutchins briefly in a four-minute video diary posted to his Instagram.

Back working for the first time in nearly four months, the actor recorded and published the video diary Tuesday. In it, he reflects on his first day of filming the independent film about a hijacked plane that will crash in 97 minutes, which is how long it will take for fuel to run out.

“We had our first day today, which is always … tricky,” he began. “I don’t work as much as I used to. I said this before maybe, but you go to work and you forget what you’re supposed to do. I just was like, ‘What do you do? What is acting or any of this nonsense I ended up doing?’ It’s strange to go back to work.”

Immediately after, Baldwin references the last time he was on a set — filming Rust on its Bonanza Creek Ranch set in Santa Fe, where he discharged a firearm with live rounds that accidentally struck and killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. The incident has been under investigation by the Santa Fe Sheriff’s department and district attorney, with the most recent development seeing Baldwin hand over his cellphone to investigators a month after a search warrant had been issued for the device.

“I haven’t worked since October 21 of last year when this horrible thing happened on the set of this film and the accidental death of our cinematographer Halyna Hutchins,” he said, solemnly. “I still find that hard to say. But I went back to work today for the first time in three and a half months.”

The former 30 Rock star went on to say that the experience of working on movies is “nearly always the same,” pointing specifically to how frequently he works on projects where “everbody’s young compared to me.” That’s especially true, he said, on independent films, which both 97 Minutes and Rust are.

“Everyone’s young, especially in independent film, where there are good people, there are very good people, but everybody’s chasing all the good people and a lot of the best ones get gobbled up by projects that have more money,” Baldwin said. “When you have a very limited budget, you’re filling positions with people who are good, but they’re probably early in their career and … young.”

He went on to say that while everyone is young, “the crew of movies are very hardworking,” before pointing to the filming conditions he and his current film crew were working under.

“They’re very hardworking, on their feet all day — in an unheated building, I might add,” he said. “The building had no heat. It was tricky to try to get everything done. Many, many independent films now can be very tricky in terms of giving the amount of work you have from the time you have are definitely not in sync.”

While Baldwin didn’t directly reference anyone while speaking about young crewmembers and, as he sees it, their tendency to work on independent films, the comment could be related to Rust, whose armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had only had a few projects under her belt when she joined the production. She, like Baldwin, is currently under investigation by the sheriff’s department and district attorney for the shooting death of Hutchins.

In January, Gutierrez-Reed sued Seth Kenney, the man whose company supplied ammunition to the Rust production, in a claim that he introduced live rounds on set. Gotta be so many PTSD issues for him.

[GeneChing]

Alec Baldwin & ‘Rust’ Producers Declare Wrongful Death Lawsuit “False”; Slain Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ Estate Sued Earlier Tuesday (https://deadline.com/2022/02/alec-baldwin-rust-respond-halyna-hutchins-wrongful-death-lawsuit-1234934185/)
By Anthony D'Alessandro, Dominic Patten
February 15, 2022 12:55pm
https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Alec-Baldwin-Rust.jpeg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Mega; AP
Mere hours after a wrongful death lawsuit was filed over the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, lawyers for Alec Baldwin and fellow producers are declaring that “any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false.”
This morning Hutchins estate attorney Brian Panish put blame on Rust producers and Baldwin for their negligence with safety during production of the Western that led to Hutchins being shot and killed by a prop gun discharged by the Oscar-nominated actor, an incident that also saw the pic’s director Joel Souza injured. Using an animated video to reconstruct the alleged incidents that occurred, Panish showed Baldwin cross-drawing and firing the gun straight at crew during a “line-up”.

“Everyone’s hearts and thoughts remain with Halyna’s family as they continue to process this unspeakable tragedy,” said Baldwin and Rust attorneys Aaron Dyer, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, “We continue to cooperate with the authorities to determine how live ammunition arrived on the Rust set in the first place.”

To date, the Sante Fe Sheriff’s Department hasn’t made any charges in the Rust tragic incident which occurred on Oct. 21, 2021.

“He (Baldwin), Halyna and the rest of the crew relied on the statement by the two professionals responsible for checking the gun that it was a ‘cold gun’ – meaning there is no possibility of a discharge, blank or otherwise,” the statement continued from team Rust.

“This protocol has worked on thousands of films, with millions of discharges, as there has never before been an incident on a set where an actual bullet harmed anyone,” concluded team Rust‘s remarks, “Actors should be able to rely on armorers and prop department professionals, as well as assistant directors, rather than deciding on their own when a gun is safe to use.”

Attorneys for the Hutchins’ estate argued that armorer Hannah Reed-Gutierrez wasn’t onsite in the church when Hutchins was shot, and that assistant director Dave Halls wasn’t qualified in weapon safety. In addition, they argue that Baldwin refused weapons training, and should have used a rubber prop gun. Additionally, there should have been protective glass in front of the crew, who were four feet away from Baldwin, or they should have been wearing protective gear, Panish argued this AM during a press conference.

“Defendant Baldwin, the Producers, and the Rust Production Companies were aware of firearms safety issues that had occurred on the set of Rust and did not take action to correct the situation and ensure that basic gun safety rules were followed on October 21, 2021,” the suit this morning from the Hutchins’ estate said. “Had Defendant Baldwin, the Producers, and the Rust Production Companies taken adequate precautions to ensure firearm safety on the set of Rust or if basic firearm safety rules had been followed on the set of Rust on October 21, 2021, Halyna Hutchins would be alive and well, hugging her husband and nine-year old son.”

Interwoven in the animated video that was shown by Hutchins’ family attorneys this morning were notes from crew members indicating tension on the set over the alleged misappropriation of safety. Prior to Hutchins’ death and Souza’s injury there were already two accidental weapon discharges and an explosive that went off between takes, per research amassed by Panish.

This is such a **** show...

[GeneChing]

Husband of fatally shot Rust cinematographer says idea of Alec Baldwin not being responsible 'is absurd' (https://ew.com/movies/matt-hutchins-rust-cinematographer-husband-says-alec-baldwin-not-taking-blame-for-shooting-is-absurd/)
"Are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?" Hutchins asks in a new Today interview with Hoda Kotb.

By Nick Romano
February 24, 2022 at 10:16 AM EST

Matt Hutchins, the husband of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot on the set of the western film in October, expressed his anger over what he considers Alec Baldwin shifting blame off himself for the tragic incident.

"The idea that the person holding the gun causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me," Hutchins told Today show host Hoda Kotb in a new interview that aired on NBC Thursday morning.

"Every individual who touches a firearm has a responsibility for gun safety," Hutchins continued. However, he added, "gun safety was not the only problem on that set. There were a number of industry standards that were not practiced, and there's multiple responsible parties."

During a rehearsal on the set of Rust, Baldwin held what he thought was a harmless prop gun towards the camera in the direction of Halyna and director Joel Souza, but the gun discharged a live round that injured Souza and fatally wounded Halyna.

Baldwin spoke about the incident in December with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, saying he "didn't pull the trigger" when the gun went off — something that police determined could have been a possibility. Though Baldwin, who's also an executive producer on Rust, expressed remorse over Halyna's death, he said he isn't culpable.

"I feel that someone is responsible for what happened, and I can't say who that is, but I know it's not me," the actor said.

"Watching him, I just felt so angry," Hutchins told Kotb. "Just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way, and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her."

"Almost sounds like he was the victim," he added, "and hearing him blame Halyna in the interview and shift responsibility to others and seeing him cry about it, I just feel like, are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Eqw0QmOXDQ

Hutchins filed a wrongful death complaint in February against Baldwin and multiple other crew members on behalf of himself and his 9-year-old son, Andros. The complaint alleged that Baldwin "recklessly shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust" and called out "others responsible for the safety on set."

Baldwin's attorney told EW in a statement, "Any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false."

"We're pursuing justice every way we can with the lawsuit, seeking to hold accountable the people who are responsible for Halyna's death, which was totally preventable," Hutchins told Kotb. "In the end, justice won't bring Halyna back, but maybe the memory of her can help keep people safe and prevent something like this from ever happening again."

Watch the interview segment in the video above. She was from Ukraine (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72272-Ukraine).

[GeneChing]

Alec Baldwin Addresses ‘Rust’ Tragedy, Shares Hope for Future Modification of Safety Regulations (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/alec-baldwin-rust-tragedy-boulder-film-festival-panel-1235105310/)
The actor's remarks came during a conversation at the Boulder International Film Festival on Saturday night.

BY ABBEY WHITE, TRILBY BERESFORD
MARCH 6, 2022 11:10AM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Alec-Baldwin-at-Sundance-Film-Festival-Getty-H-2021.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Alec Baldwin JIM BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)

Alec Baldwin has once again addressed the on-set tragedy that occurred last October during the production of western movie Rust and resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

In remarks made during a Saturday evening conversation at the Boulder International Film Festival, where the actor/producer is serving as the event’s first ever special guest programmer, Baldwin briefly referenced the investigation and lawsuits surrounding the on-set shooting and the future of safety regulations. Hutchins, along with Rust director Joel Souza, was shot on Oct. 21 after a prop gun Baldwin was holding discharged on the movie’s Santa Fe, New Mexico set, killing her and wounding Souza.

After the moderator, BIFF’s special event programmer Ron Bostwick, opened the floor to Baldwin, Baldwin launched into a lengthy and somewhat fragmented statement about there being just “two victims” in the Rust shooting, while also implying some individuals who have filed lawsuits are financially motivated and just going after people they assume “are deep pockets litigants.”

“From the beginning, from the moment this happened, everybody has put out — besides all the anguish and the suffering, horrible feelings we have and, of course, there are two victims and nobody else is a victim, so to speak — we have dealt with a situation where specific people are not as interested in finding out what really happened,” Baldwin told the festival audience.

“What you have is a certain group of litigants on whatever side, who their attitude is, well, the people who likely seem negligent have enough money. And the people who have money are not negligent, but we’re not gonna let that stop us from doing what we need to do in terms of litigation,” he added. “Why sue people if you’re not going to get money? That’s what you’re doing.”

Last month, Hutchins’ husband Matthew gave an interview with NBC’s Today show, during which he expressed that past statements made by Baldwin had seemingly victimized himself and shifted responsibility for the cinematographer’s death onto her and others.

“Almost sounds like he was the victim,” Hutchins said at the time, of comments Baldwin made in a recent interview. “And hearing him blame Halyna in the interview and shift responsibility to others and seeing him cry about it, I just feel like, ‘Are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?'”

The Hutchins family filed a wrongful death suit in February against Baldwin as well as “others responsible for the safety on set and whose reckless behavior” led to Halyna’s death. Script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, who originally called 911 following the on-set shooting incident, additionally sued Baldwin in November and is claiming assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and deliberate infliction of harm.

Later during the panel, the Rust actor compared deaths on film sets to deaths while working in other industries, asking the audience to “think of all the billions of rounds of ammunition that were fired on movie and TV sets in the last 75 years and four people have died” and then “compare that record to the opioid industry, the airline industry, the automobile industry, the gun industry itself.”

Baldwin championed “the safety record of the film and television industry,” and pointed to how on-set safety protocols establish a chain of command when it comes to weapons handling. After calling breaking that chain of command “illegal” and “against the rules,” he acknowledged that checking could “be done with” an actor, but that all his career he’s “been without incidents.”

“When someone whose job it is to ensure the safety of the weapon hands someone else whose job was to be the secondary layer of protection for safety and they hand it over to and you declare that that weapon is safe — that’s how I’ve lived my whole life,” he said. “I’ve relied on the safety experts there to declare the gun is safe and hand me the gun. Never had a problem.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Alec-Baldwin-Boulder-International-Film-Festival-Embed.jpg

At another point, the actor suggested discussions with the unions and others will take place to address new set protocols around guns. The producer and former 30 Rock star pointed to the use of plastic or weighted weapons, as well as “in all likelihood” the elimination of “all live weapons” in favor of CGI, though Baldwin stated guns are still appearing in films because “that’s what audiences want.”

“The thing to remember is that guns are fired in films because that’s what audiences want. Maybe not this crowd. Maybe not a festival crowd where you want to watch something that’s a little more complicated,” he said. “There’s a place to modify the safety regulations we have to deal with and I’m very much looking forward to our decisions.”

Towards the end, Baldwin spoke to Halyna as a cinematographer, as a woman who had broken glass ceilings in the industry and who wasn’t just “loved by people, she was admired” — before sharing his hopes for the investigation and the impact the entire tragedy has had on him.

“I’m very hopeful when the facts come out. We will not be held criminally responsible but it has changed my life, and I don’t mean this in the ordinary sense that I was involved in something or somebody passed. I mean, I was involved in a situation with somebody was killed. It’s changed my life just in terms of the function of weapons in films and television.”

Since the on-set shooting in October, Baldwin has returned to work in the U.K. on an independent feature titled 97 Minutes. He addressed this move in a recent Instagram video, commenting how it felt to resume his acting career. “We had our first day today, which is always … tricky,” he began. “I don’t work as much as I used to. I said this before maybe, but you go to work and you forget what you’re supposed to do. I just was like, ‘What do you do? What is acting or any of this nonsense I ended up doing?’ It’s strange to go back to work.”

Amid the ongoing investigation into Hutchins’ death, which includes determining how live ammo made its way onto the set, Baldwin has expressed that he’s maintained cooperation with the Santa Fe authorities. He handed his phone over to officials in mid-January, nearly one month after they requested it, for the purpose of an examination of its contents and communications.

If the prop master hands an actor a gun, is it the actor's responsibility to check the weapon?

[GeneChing]

Apr 20, 2022 9:45am PT
‘Rust’ Production Company Handed Maximum Fine for Firearm Safety Failures (https://variety.com/2022/film/news/rust-shooting-fine-alec-baldwin-halyna-hutchins-1235236906/)

By Jordan Moreau
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Rust-movie-set.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
AP

The production company behind the movie “Rust,” where actor and producer Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on set, has been given the maximum possible fine for firearms safety failures on set.

New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau gave a $136,793 fine to Rust Movie Productions.

The bureau heard testimonies that production managers took little or no action after two previous misfires on set before Baldwin’s accidental shooting of Hutchins, and there were documented gun safety complaints from crew members that went unaddressed. Weapons experts were not allowed to make decisions about extra safety training, the bureau found.

Notably, the production company had not developed any process to make sure live rounds were not present on the movie set — a clear violation of industry safety standards.

“What we had, based on our investigators’ findings, was a set of obvious hazards to employees regarding the use of firearms and management’s failure to act upon those obvious hazards,” Bob Genoway, bureau chief for occupational safety, told AP.

The new report details how assistant director David Halls, who also served as safety coordinator, had handed a large-caliber revolver to Baldwin without consulting on-set weapons specialists, either during or after the gun was loaded.

“Management was provided with multiple opportunities to take corrective actions and chose not to do so. As a result of these failures, director Joel Souza and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins were severely injured. Halyna Hutchins succumbed to her injuries,” the report said.

A lawyer for “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said in a statement that “OSHA found that Hannah Gutierrez Reed was not provided adequate time or resources to conduct her job effectively, despite her voiced concerns. Critically, OSHA also determined that production failed to call Hannah in to perform her armorer duties and inspect the firearm right before its use in the impromptu scene with Baldwin.”

Gloria Allred, who represents “Rust” script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, said in a statement, “Everyone responsible for what happened on that production which led to the tragedy should hang their heads in shame. The report by OSHA is a stinging indictment which goes way beyond mere negligence. In issuing its penalty it finds that the violations were willful. There are no stronger words which New Mexico OSHA could have used to describe the production company’s failures.”

The New Mexico agency spent 1,500 hours investigating the fatal accident, including at least a dozen interviews. New Mexico official James Kenney said separate investigations into possible criminal charges are still underway.Wait, so Reed isn't at fault?

[GeneChing]

Reckoning With ‘Rust’: Dueling California Bills Tackle Set Safety (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/rust-dueling-california-bills-tackle-set-safety-1235144076/)
Two state legislators are offering different approaches to prevent future firearm hazards, one focused on gun regulation and one on broader set issues, with Hollywood backers on both sides.

BY KATIE KILKENNY

MAY 11, 2022 6:45AM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/14biz_setsafety_MAIN-H-2022.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
ADOBE STOCK

On Jan. 3, two Democratic state senators in California introduced separate bills that would come to represent distinct approaches to tackling safety on film and TV sets in the wake of the Rust tragedy. Sens. Anthony Portantino and Dave Cortese introduced Senate Bills 829 and 831, respectively, which both propose further regulating the use of firearms and blanks during production and the safety training required for cast and crew, essentially prohibiting live ammunition except in ultra-specific scenarios (831, however, also requires the institution of a set safety supervisor role and the performance of a preproduction “risk assessment”). Both legislators have been clear that their legislation was motivated by the Oct. 21 shooting on a New Mexico set that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead.

But it’s the differences between their approaches that shed light on industry groups’ lack of consensus over how to make production safer. While both senators have spoken with guilds like the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and IATSE as well as the Motion Picture Association — the trade group advocating for the major studios and Netflix — the MPA is supporting SB 829, and many unions back SB 831. Now, as the bills are en route to the same Senate committee, the questions they raise — about whether the Rust tragedy should lead to firearms regulation specifically (SB 829) or a larger overhaul of set safety practices (SB 831) — are coming to a head, and a familiar tension between employers and labor leaders, independence and oversight, is simmering beneath the surface. “The crux of the situation comes down to, is there a distinction between the firearms issue and other issues?” says Portantino, a former art director and prop master who has overseen armaments on set.

Portantino’s SB 829 requires a fire code official to be present during the use of firearms and blanks on set and tasks the Office of the State Fire Marshal with developing safety courses for crewmembers in collaboration with the industry’s joint labor and management safety committee. (That committee’s safety bulletins, which are decided by major studios and unions but not mandatory for productions, have long set safety standards, including for firearms, on major titles; Rust did not follow their own safety guidelines based on these bulletins, an April 19 New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau report said.)

MPA vp state and local government affairs Melissa Patack says the organization is supporting SB 829 because “the focus is on training, and the MPA member companies believe that that needs to be the priority.” The MPA is also supporting making their members’ and union projects’ best practices and policies “a legal standard for all productions in California,” she says.

Cortese’s SB 831 takes a more wide-ranging approach, calling for the institution of a “set safety supervisor” — an independent employee who would make a risk assessment in preproduction that is specific to the project and attend set every day — on all productions. As the bill is currently written, the supervisor would have the power to shut down production “for further review” if they deem it necessary. Though not a common position on American sets, such supervisors are used in Australia, the U.K. and New Zealand, advocates say.

Cortese, chair of the California Senate’s Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee, also requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) to enforce the bill and propose a standard for the use of firearms on set to be adopted by January 2024.

Cortese — who in the immediate aftermath of the Rust shooting called for a ban on live ammunition and firearms capable of shooting live ammunition on sets, but modified that approach after industry feedback — says it was a conversation with the DGA about larger safety concerns that led him to extend his bill beyond firearms regulations. He says his bill creates “checks and balances in the system so that it’s much, much, much less likely that somebody will get away with disregarding the very rules that we’ve promulgated here.”

A long list of unions and labor groups, including the DGA, several IATSE locals, SAG-AFTRA and the Hollywood Teamsters, have come to formally support Cortese’s SB 831. “There are a lot of protocols in our industry, there are a lot of safety bulletins,” says Rebecca Rhine, national executive director of IATSE Local 600, the union that Halyna Hutchins belonged to and which has also lost members Sarah Jones and Brent Hershman in the past few decades. “What we think is that there’s a need to connect all of those rules and protocols to the actual on-the-ground workflow. And we believe that the safety supervisor is the piece that does that.”

Though neither the MPA nor labor groups have come out in opposition to each other’s favored bills, the set safety supervisor position as written in SB 831 may be one issue for management: Studios might not take kindly to an employee retaining the power to autonomously — and expensively — stop production.

On the flip side, Portantino may face resistance from some who think SB 829 “doesn’t quite go far enough in terms of having a penalty,” says Dario Frommer, a partner at Akin Gump who is a former majority leader of the California State Assembly. Outgoing IATSE Local 600 national president and seasoned cinematographer John Lindley (Snowfall, Field of Dreams) maintains that he doesn’t have criticisms for any legislators “trying to make the set a safer place” but believes a full-time set safety supervisor is “the simplest way forward for [management]. They can afford it, they know how to do it around the world, and they should just get on board doing it in North America.”

While the bills are still in the early stages of the legislative process — if they make it through the Senate, they will then follow a similar path in the State Assembly before landing on the governor’s desk — they will reach a critical point by entering the Senate Appropriations Committee (chaired by Portantino) in May. The senators say the language of their bills isn’t set in stone, and conversations with stakeholders are ongoing; labor and management leaders are also currently in talks.

Portantino says he hopes labor and management “continue to talk and that the final product represents more of a common ground.” Cortese adds: “We’ll take under consideration any proposed amendments that are consistent with the current intent of the bill.” If one or both of the bills continue to progress, the governor may receive legislation for consideration in August or September.

However these bills land, property person Karl Weschta, a member of the nonprofit American Entertainment Armories Association, hopes that they lead to greater standardization of practices across the country. “California typically will start this sort of thing, and then others will look to California’s way of doing things, and potentially [this could] be better for everybody,” he says. While legislation aiming to tackle film set safety training was postponed indefinitely in New Mexico earlier this year, a bill sponsored by New York State Sen. Kevin Thomas, which bans live ammunition at film production facilities and requires firearm training, is making its way through New York Senate committees.

Frommer says he would “not be surprised” if California’s two bills tackling the Rust tragedy were combined into one in the near future. “If you’re having two bills go on the floor, you’re making members choose between two really strong constituents in the legislature — organized labor and the motion picture [industry].” He believes the end result will likely be “something that maybe both parties won’t love but they can live with.” Now I'm wondering why such legislation didn't emerge when Brandon Lee died.

[GeneChing]

Alec Baldwin reaches settlement with Halyna Hutchins’ family (https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/entertainment/alec-baldwin-rust-settlement/index.html)
By Chloe Melas, CNN
Updated 9:49 AM EDT, Wed October 5, 2022
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/211022035727-halyna-hutchins-file-2019.jpg?q=x_3,y_235,h_1684,w_2993,c_crop/h_540,w_960
Halyna Hutchins, here in 2019, was killed on the set of the film "Rust" in 2021.
Fred Hayes/Getty Images
CNN
—
The family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed on the “Rust” movie set in 2021, and Alec Baldwin have reached an undisclosed settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the actor and others, according to a statement released by the actor’s attorney.

The lawsuit, filed in February in Santa Fe, against Baldwin, the film’s production companies, its producers and other key members of the crew, alleged numerous industry standard violations.

Matthew Hutchins, widower of Halyna Hutchins who was killed on set, will be an executive producer on film and receive a portion of the profits, the statement adds.

“We have reached a settlement, subject to court approval, for our wrongful death case against the producers of Rust, including Alec Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions, LLC. As part of that settlement, our case will be dismissed. The filming of Rust, which I will now executive produce, will resume with all the original principal players on board in January 2023. I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin). All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work,” Hutchins said in a statement.

“Throughout this difficult process, everyone has maintained the specific desire to do what is best for Halyna’s son. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the resolution of this tragic and painful situation,” Alec Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel, said in a statement.

Film director Joel Souza, who was also injured in the shooting, is expected to return to the film. “Those of us who were lucky enough to have spent time with Halyna knew her to be exceedingly talented, kind, creative, and a source of incredible positive energy. I only wish the world had gotten to know her under different circumstances, as it surely would have through her amazing work. In my own attempts to heal, any decision to return to finish directing the film could only make sense for me if it was done with the involvement of Matt and the Hutchins family. Though certainly bittersweet, I am pleased that together, we will now complete what Halyna and I started. My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halyna’s legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf,” said Souza in the statement.

Rust Movie Productions, LLC, attorney Spadone of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, said: “We are pleased the parties came together to resolve this matter, which, subject to court approval, marks an important step forward in celebrating Halyna’s life and honoring her work.”

The lawsuit also claimed the production companies and producers “cut corners” and “chose to hire the cheapest crew available,” specifically noting that they “knowingly hired a wholly unqualified armorer,” and required her to split time in a second role as assistant props master.

Deadline first reported news of the settlement.

This story is developing and will be updated. So, who's going to see Rust now that it supports the bereaved?

[GeneChing]

A Year After ‘Rust,’ Alec Baldwin Is Busy in the Low-Budget World (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/rust-alec-baldwin-busy-movie-1235245751/)
The actor has multiple projects brewing with talent behind the controversial Western, with one collaborator noting: "You don’t abandon your good friends at the drop of any trouble."
BY ETAN VLESSING

OCTOBER 21, 2022 10:58AM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1358160935-H-2022.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1&resize=681%2C383
Alec Baldwin DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES


One year after Alec Baldwin was involved in a tragic shooting on the set of Rust, the star says he has lost multiple acting opportunities, noting in an interview with CNN in August that five roles disappeared. Yet since the Oct. 21, 2021, death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died when Baldwin pulled the trigger of a prop gun that was not supposed to contain live rounds, the actor has maintained a steady stream of work not all that different from the low-budget fare he appeared in before Rust.

In part, he has benefactors involved in Rust to thank for his continued employment, with upcoming titles including the sleep-walking-centric False Awakening and 97 Minutes, his first acting gig after briefly retreating from film sets.

“You don’t abandon your good friends at the drop of any trouble,” 97 Minutes screenwriter Pavan Grover tells The Hollywood Reporter of continuing to work with Baldwin.

The disaster thriller, shot in the U.K. in February, with Rust producer Anjul Nigam also onscreen and executive producing, faced pressure to switch Baldwin out for another actor, Grover recounts.

“He’s had a rough year with all the fallout that happened. A lot of projects dropped him because of all the controversy,” Grover says.

But the screenwriter and producer, whose day job is as a spinal surgeon in Houston, Texas, says he penned 97 Minutes with Baldwin in the lead role and never considered writing him out of the script. Grover also says that returning to work on 97 Minutes helped Baldwin heal. (The actor has called the death of Hutchins the worst thing that has ever happened to him.)

“Getting out of the country, getting away from that 24/7 media storm and connecting with his cast and connect with the crew was very therapeutic for him,” Grover recalls.

97 Minutes is in postproduction ahead of an expected February 2023 release by Vertical Entertainment.

As Baldwin looks to line up other gigs, many are low-budget action pics that will keep the veteran actor collecting paychecks amid possible legal woes. He and fellow Rust producers are named in a civil suit brought by the film’s script supervisor, though another suit brought by Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, settled on Oct. 5.

Meanwhile, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office criminal investigation continues. Insiders note that the results of the investigation could have an effect on Baldwin’s career prospects. But observers note that regardless of the outcome, he likely could continue to star in the low-budget independent features that have made up the majority of his credits, as of late. Actors like Baldwin who are no longer at the peak of their careers can still find seven-figure paydays, sometimes for just a few days of work, on such projects.

Elsewhere, Baldwin and Rust producer Nigam, who recently launched Persona Entertainment as their indie banner, are aiming to restart production on the Western in January 2023, possibly in California, after reaching the settlement with Hutchins’ husband (who will now be an executive producer).

At Cannes, Baldwin and Nigam unveiled their banner’s first project, False Awakening, and began preselling writer-director Ben Tomson’s psychological thriller, now in preproduction. Baldwin would executive produce and play a psychologist who helps the film’s main character navigate sleep-walking episodes that hinder his life.

Other possible movie gigs for Baldwin include Wayne Kramer’s indie Blue Before Blood, a cop thriller set against the backdrop of a divided NYPD. That would reteam Baldwin with Kramer, who wrote and directed 2003 film The Cooler, which earned Baldwin an Oscar nomination for portraying the volcanic Shelly Kaplow, considered among his most successful roles.

Baldwin is also set to star as a former CIA station chief alongside Olga Kurylenko and Alex Pettyfer in the action spy thriller Chief of Station, which is scheduled to shoot in Budapest later this year.

Baldwin has a number of projects in the can, including Supercell — a Twister-style disaster movie about storm chasers — which Rust’s Nigam also executive produced and starred in. The project, which filmed in 2021, hailed from Rust producers Thomasville Pictures and marked the final film performance by Anne Heche. It’s from director Herbert James Winterstern and the Highland Film Group.

And in March, Baldwin was in Italy to star alongside brother Daniel Baldwin in two animated comedy family films, Kid Santa and Billie’s Magic World, from Minerva Pictures and ILBE. Both films, which combined live-action actors with animated characters, were directed by Francesco Cinquemani, who directed Baldwin in the 2015 dystopian sci-fi thriller Andròn: The Black Labyrinth.

Baldwin’s résumé, even before the Rust tragedy, was a comedown for a Hollywood actor who starred in classic films like Beetlejuice and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, as well as the TV series 30 Rock. He more recently earned an Emmy nomination for playing former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

Baldwin says it’s gotten worse amid the Rust fallout. Said the actor to CNN in August: “I got fired from another job yesterday. There I was all set to go to a movie, jump on a plane. … I’ve been talking with these guys for months and they told me yesterday, ‘We don’t want to do the film with you because of this.’”
Baldwin really shouldn't be held accountable. It was the responsibility of the weapons master.

[GeneChing]

‘Rust’ Makes Early Plans to Restart Production in California (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/rust-plans-restart-production-california-1235244942/)
The production is currently planning not to return to New Mexico in 2023, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

BY KATIE KILKENNY

OCTOBER 19, 2022 6:29PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1236192681-copy.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1&resize=681%2C383
Rust Movie Set PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The filmmaking team behind Rust is making early plans to move production from New Mexico to California when filming resumes, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Production on the Western is set to pick up again with “all the original principal players on board” in January 2023 as part of a settlement with the family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was shot and killed in 2021 during the initial filming of the movie at Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sources tell THR that early plans are for production to continue in California rather than New Mexico, though it’s not clear yet where in the state it will be filmed or whether plans could shift. Matthew Hutchins, Halyna’s husband, is set to executive produce.

A representative for Rust Movie Productions, attorney Melina Spadone, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: “The production of Rust will not return to New Mexico. The production is considering other locations, including in California, but no decisions have been made.”

Major crew union IATSE confirmed Wednesday that its initial plan for the resumed production is to staff safety personnel on the set, assuming the production companies involved are under a union contract. (The Rust Movie Productions representative declined to comment when asked about the companies involved in the upcoming continuation of production.) Hutchins belonged to IATSE Local 600, the International Cinematographers Guild. Before the shooting that killed Hutchins occurred on the Rust set in 2021, seven workers in the camera department walked off set over what former A-camera first assistant Lane Luper told THR was an unsafe work environment.

In March, the Directors Guild of America ordered members off of Oak, a film backed by Rust producer Thomasville Pictures after, according to the DGA, producers failed to meet “specific safety requirements” in the DGA agreement. (In a statement at the time, Thomasville Pictures spokesperson Stefan Friedman said the film was “proud” to still be working with IATSE and SAG-AFTRA and with those two unions and the DGA on a separate film.) While IATSE, which had members on the shoot, did not follow suit, it sent an international safety representative to the set.

When the civil settlement over Rust first went public in early October, containing the news that its filmmakers planned to finish the movie starting in January, it took several Hollywood unions by surprise. “No one has contacted us from the production. I have not spoken to anyone related to the production since that tragic accident happened, so everything I’ve seen has been in the press. No one has said a word,” Teamsters Local 399 secretary-treasurer Lindsay Dougherty told THR at the time. THR reached out to Teamsters Local 399 to determine whether the union has heard from the production since.

Hutchins’ death after a prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal for the film became a rallying cry for Hollywood to make set safety a priority. In the aftermath of her death, two California state senators introduced bills attempting to reform industry practices. One bill was backed by entertainment unions (SB 831) and the other by the Motion Picture Association (SB 829) — both eventually failed last spring when the two sides didn’t reach a compromise.

In a statement to THR after the Rust settlement announcement revealed production would continue, the office of SB 829 champion Sen. Anthony Portantino said, “Senator Portantino continues to be committed to finding a sensible solution to outstanding set safety issues. He was disappointed in the inability of stakeholders to craft a compromise last year but is optimistic one will be developed during this legislative session.”

The New Mexico district attorney’s office has yet to reveal whether they will file criminal charges against anyone connected to the Rust accident.

Kim Masters and Winston Cho contributed reporting.

Oct. 19, 8:38 p.m.: Updated with the latest statement from Rust Movie Productions. I imagine they'll get a bump from the morbidity factor...

[GeneChing]

Inside the Secret ‘Rust’ Settlement: Why Did Halyna Hutchins’ Widower Drop His Suit to Become an Executive Producer? (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/rust-settlement-why-halyna-hutchins-widower-dropped-suit-1235248454/)
Legal experts detail what the estate and the producers stand to gain by calling a truce and teaming up to complete the movie on which star Alec Baldwin fatally shot the DP in October 2021.

BY GARY BAUM, WINSTON CHO
OCTOBER 25, 2022 1:05PM
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The entrance to the Bonanza Creek Ranch where 'Rust' was filming in Santa Fe, New Mexico. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

A year after Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of Rust, the producers, still facing civil litigation and under a cloud of potential criminal liability, are looking to finish the film in the next few months. Key to this gambit is a private settlement with Hutchins’ estate, announced Oct. 5, which is pending court approval. The plan both ends the wrongful death action brought by Hutchins’ family on Feb. 15 and makes her widower, Matthew, an executive producer on the movie.

The settlement marks a public about-face for Matthew Hutchins. After filing suit, he told Hoda Kotb on NBC’s Today show that “there were a number of industry standards that were not practiced, and there’s multiple responsible parties,” adding pointedly of Baldwin, “The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me.” Yet in tandem with the settlement announcement, he stated: “I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Baldwin). All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.”

The Hollywood Reporter spoke with legal experts about what might have precipitated Hutchins’ public reconciliation with the producers, and what both sides stand to gain in the settlement.

Rust’s producers have included Ryan Smith and Allen Cheney, whose checkered history with financial and safety issues on earlier films came to the fore after Hutchins’ death on the Western drama. Also party to the Rust producing consortium: Baldwin’s manager, Matt DelPiano, as well as actor Anjul Nigam, who later co-starred with Baldwin in disaster thriller 97 Minutes, which shot in the U.K. in February. It’s yet to be determined which of these producers will remain on board through completion of photography and potential release.

The film’s producers, operating under Rust Movie Productions (RMP), declined to answer questions about the proposed deal. “The terms of the settlement are confidential, and its approval is proceeding apace,” said their attorney Melina Spadone, in a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter. Representatives for the Hutchins family did not respond to inquiries.

Veteran entertainment attorney Bryan Sullivan, who regularly works with independent productions as their legal strategist in business affairs, notes that “the whole point of creating [Rust Move Productions] is for liability purposes.” On independent productions, such special-purpose entities are created as financial vehicles that offer management, accounting and tax advantages, acting as an umbrella that essentially allows producers to treat productions as though they are companies. Critically, they protect their owners, whose liability is limited to the amount invested in the movie.

The only assets RMP has are the rights to the movie, the footage and any forthcoming proceeds. If there is a judgment against the company in any of the civil suits it’s facing, damages would be limited to those assets. Finishing and distributing the movie is likely the sole path available to compensate the victims. For Hutchins, an EP credit — along with a piece of the backend — was one of his few options in a settlement.

“Rust doesn’t have a lot in the way of assets outside of the rights to the picture, and the only way that’s worth anything is for it to get done,” says entertainment attorney Nick Soltman. “It’s less a question of what Rust Movie Productions wanted and more a question of what they could offer to him.”

In the event Hutchins refused to settle and plans for the movie marched forward regardless, Rust’s financiers would have had first dibs on the proceeds as unsecured creditors. By attaching his name to the production that he initially faulted for negligence in the death of his wife, he now stands among the first in line, unlike those continuing to pursue their lawsuits against RMP.

It remains unclear what rights are conferred by Matthew Hutchins’ EP title, including where he will be situated in the financial “waterfall,” which is a project’s payment distribution agreement. Other open questions include whether the Hutchins family will separately be compensated outside of RMP, and if the settlement terms included Hutchins’ publicly absolving Baldwin and the other producers.
continued next post

[GeneChing]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1238712056-EMBEd-2022.jpg?w=1000
Matthew Hutchins, Halyna Hutchins’ widower, settled with the Rust producers. Photographed Feb. 23, 2022. CHRIS HASTON/NBC/NBCU PHOTO BANK VIA GETTY IMAGES

Hutchins could have looked to hold RMP’s owners personally responsible for the incident — known as “piercing the corporate veil.” Successfully doing so would have enabled him to go after money from the company’s owners, including Smith, who showcased a lifestyle of private jet travel and lodging at the Four Seasons Rancho Encantado in Santa Fe via social media during production on Rust. But attorney Sean Andrade, who specializes in litigation against special-purpose entities, says that would have been exceedingly difficult in this case because it appears as if the company followed corporate formalities to be considered a legal entity. He also notes that the creation of limited liability corporations to produce movies is normal practice.

Another factor in Hutchins’ decision to settle may be other civil litigation currently underway. The Hutchins settlement was announced as a lawsuit from script supervisor Mamie Mitchell works its way through court. In that case, Mitchell has faced an uphill battle in attaching liability over the shooting to RMP. A Los Angeles judge in September dismissed claims of assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the company and producers Smith and Cheney, both of whom produced Rust through their Thomasville Pictures, because they didn’t know that Baldwin “would aim and fire the loaded weapon towards Plaintiff such that they would be jointly liable for his intentional conduct.” The order from the court reads: “In fact, Plaintiff’s allegations would show the opposite to be true: the only person who knew Baldwin was going to fire the weapon was Baldwin.”

Since the shooting, RMP and other producers have argued in civil court and in contesting a $136,793 fine assessed by New Mexico’s safety commission that they were not responsible for supervising the production and simply financed it. They have claimed that armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was “singularly responsible for all tasks associated with the use of firearms and ammunition,” including responsibilities related to “ensuring that RMP’s express prohibition against the presence of live ammunition was strictly followed, ensuring that only blanks were used when called for by the script, and that only dummy rounds were used.”

Despite allegations that RMP ignored industry-wide norms related to the use of guns by cutting corners on safety to shoot the movie on a shoestring budget, it’s becoming increasingly likely that that company will not be apportioned much blame for the shooting.

Mitchell and other plaintiffs could still go after Baldwin, but his liability remains uncertain. The actor has stressed that assistant director Dave Halls shouted “cold gun” — a widely understood term on film sets referring to firearms that contain no rounds — before handing him the old-fashioned revolver that killed Hutchins. (Baldwin also maintained that he never pulled the trigger, though an FBI forensic report found that it could not have discharged without someone doing so.) “Baldwin wasn’t negligent,” Sullivan says. “Somebody else was responsible for making sure the gun was empty, but he’s the only one with money that I’m aware of who’s a defendant. It’d be hard to put all of the blame on him, though.”

Also still on the docket are lawsuits from gaffer Serge Svetnoy and medic Cherlyn Schaefer. They allege negligence against RMP, claiming the film’s producers did not hire enough qualified crewmembers to maintain a safe set. Schaefer’s suit does not name Baldwin as a defendant. A common theme across all the suits is that the safety culture on set was severely lacking. Some point to two other misfires before Halyna Hutchins was killed, in which Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired a blank and a prop master shot herself in the foot.

In addition to the EP credit, there was likely a monetary component to the settlement paid by the production’s insurance and other defendants named in Matthew Hutchins’ suit. RMP attorney Spadone confirmed to THR that Rust was insured for the duration of filming under a “single insurer, with different components of coverage, in addition to workers’ compensation.” Notably, however, multiple sources tell THR that Rust didn’t secure a completion bond, which doesn’t bode well for the chances that it carried an expansive policy with deep coverage. Sullivan says, “I guarantee you they bought a cheap insurance policy. It’s rare that any [special-purpose] company buys a policy with full coverage. On a production like that — small, low-budget — do they want to pay $500,000 and get the Rolls-Royce of policies? Probably not.”

Legal observers also emphasize that a possible strategic consideration in installing Matthew Hutchins as an executive producer on the project is to counteract negative public sentiment toward the completion and distribution of Rust. Similarly, the widower’s involvement may complicate the remaining civil litigation by other parties.

Soltman notes the unwieldy dynamic created by the settlement in which plaintiffs in the other cases are “essentially competing with [Matthew Hutchins] for judgment” since “they’re all going after the same pot of money.”

Andrade explains, “Matthew Hutchins now has a stake in the movie. To the extent that someone else who filed a lawsuit will get some amount of money, whether in a settlement or an eventual verdict, that would impact whatever he’s able to recover himself from the film and the ultimate profits. It was a smart move since they’re facing multiple lawsuits.”

Meanwhile, the criminal investigation remains ongoing. In a statement on Oct. 21, the one-year anniversary of Hutchins’ death, Santa Fe’s First Judicial Dist. Atty. Mary Carmack-Altwies said she was awaiting a report from the Sheriff’s Office. She’d previously made it known that charges could be brought against as many as four people, including Baldwin, and had appointed a special prosecutor. A spokesperson for her office noted: “No one is above the law.”
Didn't expect that...

[GeneChing]

Alec Baldwin Can’t Escape Lawsuit From ‘Rust’ Script Supervisor (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/alec-baldwin-rust-mamie-mitchell-lawsuit-1235254260/)
The ruling represents a major win for Mamie Mitchell after the court dismissed most claims against the producers of the movie.

BY WINSTON CHO

NOVEMBER 2, 2022 1:21PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GettyImages-1358160194-H-2022.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1
Alec Baldwin DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES


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Alec Baldwin must face a lawsuit from Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell over his role in the on-set shooting that resulted in the death and injury of two crewmembers, a judge has ruled.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Whitaker on Tuesday refused to dismiss claims of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence against the actor. He found that Mitchell established “extreme and outrageous conduct on the part of Baldwin,” who “unexpectedly cocked and fired a loaded handgun” despite being aware of a disastrous safety culture on the set of Rust where producers shirked industry-wide norms related to the use of guns to shoot the movie on a shoestring budget.

Mitchell will also be allowed to pursue punitive damages against Baldwin and his production company El Dorado Pictures for ignoring prior red flags that put them on notice of “firearms-safety-related problems on the set that endangered the cast and crew.” The judge concluded that the suit demonstrates “despicable conduct carried out by the Demurring Defendants with a willful and conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others.”

Luke Nikas, representing Baldwin, said that the court was “required to assume at this stage that Mitchell’s allegations against Alec Baldwin were true—even though they are demonstrably false, made in bad faith, and contradict her own prior statements about what happened.” He stressed that the court dismissed some of her claims and that he “looks forward to disproving the rest of her case now that she can no longer shield her misrepresentations from the evidence.”

The ruling is the first advancing a claim of assault against any of the defendants. Whitaker pointed to allegations detailing how Baldwin violated industry norms regarding the handling of firearms. These include the actor intentionally discharging the gun even though the scene didn’t call for it and accepting the firearm from assistant director Dave Halls despite industry norms dictating that the armorer is supposed to hand it off after showing that the gun chambers are empty.

“The industry wide safety bulletin for use of firearms mandates that all firearms are to be treated as though they are loaded because, as Alec Baldwin knew, guns are inherently dangerous weapons,” reads the ruling, which cites the complaint. “He had no right to rely upon some alleged statement by the Assistant Director that it was a ‘cold gun.’ Mr. Baldwin cannot hide behind the Assistant Director to attempt to excuse the fact that he did not check the gun himself.”

Claims of negligence against Baldwin and El Dorado Pictures were also allowed to proceed. The judge found that they owed a “duty of care” to Mitchell and other crewmembers to make the filming of the movie reasonably safe. The defendants may have breached their duties by failing to properly supervise firearms used for filming, Whitaker concluded.

In her suit, Mitchell alleged that the cart used for storing ammunition had been regularly left unattended throughout filming, that loaded firearms had been used by crewmembers for target practice in violation of safety protocols that were never implemented and that the producers of the movie should’ve hired an experienced armorer to manage the weapons instead of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. She also said there were “serious safety concerns” related to the use of firearms and live ammunition, detailing numerous workers walking off the job in protest of safety concerns prior to the fatal shooting.

A report from a New Mexico safety agency issued in April detailed two previous incidents in which firearms accidentally discharged on the set of Rust. The first misfire, which happened less than a week before the fatal shooting, occurred when props master Sarah Zachary inadvertently fired a blank round as she finished loading a 0.45 caliber revolver that was aimed at the ground. The second involved the stunt double for Baldwin, who said the gun “just went off.”

The decision from Whitaker follows an order in September dismissing most claims against Rust Movie Productions, Thomasville Pictures, Ryan Smith and Langley Cheney, because they didn’t know Baldwin would actually shoot the gun that killed Hutchins.

Claims against El Dorado for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress met the same fate for the same reasons, according to a court filing.

Gloria Allred, representing Mitchell, said that the court dismissed claims against El Dorado because “Alec Baldwin is the person who fired the gun, not El Dorado Productions, so [it] did not have specific intent.”
The pdf of Mitchell v Baldwin is posted on THR

[GeneChing]

Alec Baldwin Sues ‘Rust’ Crew For Negligence; Actor Wants “To Clear His Name” After Fatal Set Shooting, Says Incident Cost Him Roles (https://deadline.com/2022/11/alec-baldwin-lawsuit-rust-film-shooting-cross-complaint-suffering-1235170586/)

By Dominic Patten
Senior Editor, Legal & TV Critic
@DeadlineDominic

November 11, 2022 6:09pm
https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Alec-Baldwin-Rust-set.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Alec Baldwin and the 'Rust' set in New Mexico
Getty Images
Just days before the Santa Fe District Attorney is expected to announced her intentions in the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by Alec Baldwin last year, the actor Friday has slammed crew members of the indie Western with a negligence lawsuit.

Filed on a day when Los Angeles Superior Court is closed for the Veterans Day holiday, the photo- and email-heavy cross-complaint for negligence and indemnification names Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, first assistant director David Halls, property master Sarah Zachry, and weapons and rounds supplier Seth Kenney and his company as defendants.

“This tragedy happened because live bullets were delivered to the set and loaded into the gun, Gutierrez-Reed failed to check the bullets or the gun carefully, Halls failed to check the gun carefully and yet announced the gun was safe before handing it to Baldwin, and Zachry failed to disclose that Gutierrez-Reed had been acting recklessly off set and was a safety risk to those around her,” says the cross complaint (read it here) from Baldwin’s Quinn Emanuel attorney Luke Nikas.

Recently having settled a wrongful death suit with Hutchins’ husband and family and intending to get Rust back on track, Baldwin has long declared he never pulled the trigger on the 1880s period gun that he was pointing at Hutchins on October 21, 2021.

In a move that risks backfiring on Baldwin, today’s filing makes a point of noting how the aftermath of the shooting has impacted his career.

“Baldwin has also lost numerous job opportunities and associated income,” it says. “For example, he’s been fired from multiple jobs expressly because of the incident on Rust and has been passed over for other opportunities, which is a direct result of the negligence of Cross-Defendants Gutierrez-Reed, Halls, Kenney, PDQ, and Zachry.”

Coming just over a week after Baldwin failed to convince a LASC judge to remove him from Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell’s own negligence lawsuit or see the matter dismissed, Friday’s filing also claims the Emmy winner has suffered personal consequences from the horrible October 2021 incident.

“More than anyone else on that set, Baldwin has been wrongfully viewed as the perpetrator of this tragedy,” the actor’s lawyer writes of his client. “By these Cross-Claims, Baldwin seeks to clear his name and hold Cross-Defendants accountable for their misconduct.”

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(Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)
‘There can be no doubt that others have suffered from Cross-Defendants’ negligence far more than Baldwin has,” the suit does go on to say of that day at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set, just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. “Hutchins lost her life, and her young child lost his mother,” the jury trial cross-complaint states. “Producer Joel Souza was shot in the shoulder and has suffered physical and emotional pain. Though by no means comparable, Baldwin must live with the immense grief, and the resulting emotional, physical, and financial toll, caused by the fact that Cross-Defendants’ negligent conduct, assurances, and supervision put a loaded weapon in his hand and led him, Hutchins, and everyone else on set to believe that his directed use of the weapon was safe.”

Reps for the cross-complaint defendants did not return request for comment from Deadline on today’s filing.

Mitchell is not a defendant in the cross-complaint. However, Gloria Allred certainly had something to say for her client about Friday’s filing. “Baldwin’s cross complaint is a shameful attempt to shift the blame to others, just as he has done since he fired the fatal shot which killed Ms. Hutchins and injured our client, Mamie Mitchell,” Allred said. “He claims that everyone else was negligent and that everyone else is at fault. Mr. Baldwin appears to argue that he is the only one that is truly innocent.”

“One last thing I have to say to you, Mr. Baldwin – take responsibility for your actions,” Allred went on to say. “I am not suggesting that others did not also bear some responsibility for what occurred. However, if you look in the mirror you will see the person that we believe bears the most responsibility for what happened on that tragic day on the set of Rust in New Mexico.”

In one of several legal actions currently in the courts relating to the shooting, Mitchell first filed her lawsuit against Baldwin, Rust producers and crew members Gutierrez-Reed, Halls, Zachry and others on November 17, 2021. Mitchell was standing near Hutchins and Souza when the gun Baldwin was holding fired. On November 1, Judge Michael E. Whitaker refused Baldwin’s effort to exit the suit and also denied a motion from Baldwin and his El Dorado Pictures Inc to strike the script supervisor’s claim for punitive damages.

Santa Fe DA Mary Carmack-Altwies received the final Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office report on the Rust shooting on October 27. “The District Attorney and her team of investigators and prosecutors will now begin a thorough review of the information and evidence to make a thoughtful, timely decision about whether to bring charges,” her office said at the time, weeks after seeking greater funding from the state for a possible prosecution on the matter.

“As with all cases that the District Attorney handles, her focus will be on upholding the integrity of the process, enforcing the laws of the state of New Mexico, and pursuing justice.”

I find this whole story tragic yet compelling.

[GeneChing]

Hilaria Baldwin Admits She and Husband Alec Are 'Not Okay' One Year After 'Rust' Shooting Tragedy (https://people.com/movies/hilaria-baldwin-admits-she-and-alec-baldwin-are-not-okay-after-rust-shooting-tragedy/)
"It was and is a tragedy that nobody could ever have imagined," Hilaria Baldwin said of the fatal Rust shooting incident to Extra

By Tommy McArdle Published on December 2, 2022 05:45 PM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XbuzzLTqus

A year after the fatal shooting on the set of Alec Baldwin's film Rust, his wife Hilaria Baldwin says she and her husband are still "not okay."

In a preview of 38-year-old Hilaria's upcoming interview with Extra, shared with PEOPLE, the author and podcast host indicated that both she and Alec, 64, are still struggling emotionally more than one year after the incident that resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

"We're not okay. We can't be okay. No one's okay," Hilaria tells Extra in a clip from the interview. "It was and is a tragedy that nobody could ever have imagined."

Hutchins, 42, was shot and killed Oct. 21, 2021, after a prop gun held by Alec that turned out to contain live rounds discharged. Director Joel Souza was also wounded in the incident; Alec maintains that he did not pull the trigger.

In October, one year after Hutchins' death, Alec posted a tribute to the cinematographer.

While the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office criminal investigation is still pending and no charges have been made, Alec and other Rust producers recently settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchins' widower Matthew earlier this year. Along with the settlement, the team agreed to complete the movie with Matthew now on board as an executive producer.

Matthew, who shares son Andros with Hutchins, said in a statement, "I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin)."

He added, "All of us believe Halyna's death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna's final work."

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Hilaria Baldwin and Alec Baldwin at the American Museum of Natural History's 2022 Museum Gala. HILARIA BALDWIN AND ALEC BALDWIN AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY'S 2022 MUSEUM GALA

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COURTESY OF SANTA FE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Sharing news of the settlement on Instagram himself earlier this month, Alec wrote, "We are pleased to announce today the settlement of the civil case filed on behalf of the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Throughout this difficult process, everyone has maintained the specific desire to do what is best for Halyna's son."

"We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the resolution of this tragic and painful situation," he added.

In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in December, Alec said he "would go to any lengths to undo what happened."

"I want to make sure that I don't come across like I'm the victim, because we have two victims here. All of what happened that day leading up to this event was precipitated on one idea, and that idea is that Halyna and I had something profound in common," he added, "that is we both assumed the gun was empty, other than those dummy rounds."

Tune in to Extra Monday for the interview, check local listings for stations and time. How would you ever be okay after something like this?

[GeneChing]

Actor Brandon Lee was killed by a prop gun, years before the 'Rust' shooting death (https://www.npr.org/2023/01/20/1150034900/brandon-lee-killed-prop-gun-rust-shooting-death-alec-baldwin-halyna-hutchins)
January 20, 20235:23 AM ET
GIULIA HEYWARD

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/01/19/pm6x0g_custom-395b8e3c5a7567be6503b0811ca3abf9d256f80f-s800-c85.webp
Actor Brandon Lee died at age 28 while filming The Crow in 1993.
Alamy Stock Photo
Actor Alec Baldwin is facing criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021. The incident is reminiscent of another on-set tragedy: the accidental shooting of actor Brandon Lee during filming of The Crow nearly three decades earlier.

Lee, who was the son of martial artist Bruce Lee, died after his co-star, actor Michael Massee, fired at him with a prop gun during filming on March 30, 1993, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Although the revolver was loaded with blanks, the gunpowder in the blank cartridge ignited, leading Massee to unknowingly fire a bullet fragment at Lee, who later died in surgery.

While Massee did not face any criminal charges, Lee's mother did successfully sue filmmakers for an undisclosed amount.

Decades later, a similar incident occurred when Baldwin fired a live round from a Colt .45-caliber pistol at Hutchins during filming for Rust. Baldwin, who maintains that he did not intend to fire at Hutchins, sued those involved in the handling and supplying of the prop gun and reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchins' husband, Matthew Hutchins.

On Thursday, prosecutors in Santa Fe, N.M., said Baldwin and another member of the Rust crew would face criminal charges for their involvement in the cinematographer's death.

Nancy Gertner, a trial lawyer, retired judge and senior lecturer at Harvard Law School, told NPR that filing criminal charges, in the deaths of both Lee and Hutchinson, is often up to the acting prosecutor's discretion. She called the decision to charge Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter both "unusual" and "difficult to prove."

"No one intended for this to happen," Gertner said. "So these kinds of charges are reserved for only the most extreme kinds of negligence, the most gross negligence, the largest deviation from what ordinary standards would be."

Gertner points to other members of the crew — including the film's armorer, who is also facing charges of involuntary manslaughter — and their handling and management of the gun before it came into Baldwin's possession.

"There are people along the continuum here who had direct responsibility for that gun and failed in that responsibility," she said. "One way of thinking of that is, in one sense, Baldwin is the least culpable on that line."

To prove Baldwin's culpability, Gertner said the prosecutors are theorizing that Baldwin held a greater responsibility in the death than originally thought. She also pointed to the roles that social media and "the unbelievable crush of publicity" might be playing in the prosecutors' decision.

"In other words, was the Lee case going to be on every single night on television, and on Twitter and on every major outlet?" Gertner said. "Does that put pressure on prosecutors in ways that it never has before? And that could be a difference."

Robert Weisberg, a criminal law professor at Stanford University, echoed the same sentiment that an involuntary manslaughter charge is often up to the prosecutor's discretion, calling the incident involving Baldwin "very factually messy."

"I don't think we know enough yet about the forensics of the shooting, at least compared to what was settled in the Brandon Lee case," he said. "And some possible outcomes from further investigation or actual trial testimony, in the Baldwin case, might more clearly differentiate the cases."

Weisberg pointed to labor issues surrounding the production company behind Rust. The Los Angeles Times reported that a half-dozen crew members reportedly walked off the set hours before the shooting incident, and others told the news outlet that gun safety protocols weren't being followed while filming.

"A jury could infer, 'Well, on that basis, he should have thought twice, or three times, about the gun,'" Weisberg said. "Even if there hadn't been incidents on that set about that particular gun, but rather, you should have done an inference: 'We're not running the set very well. And I better really be careful here.'"

The incident that led to Lee's death spurred the need for better protocols when using prop guns on set. Following her brother's death, martial artist Shannon Lee told Agence France-Presse in 2021 that mandatory gun safety training should be required for actors.

"It shouldn't happen again," Lee told the news agency.

Gertner also said that previous reports of equipment being irresponsibly handled on set could add to Baldwin's culpability.

"So that too could have distinguished this case from the Lee case," she said. "If someone tells you that you speed all the time and you continue to speed, that makes you much more culpable."

Rust-accidental-shooting-of-Halyna-Hutchins (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72174-Rust-accidental-shooting-of-Halyna-Hutchins)
Question-about-Brandon-Lee (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?17174-Question-about-Brandon-Lee)

[GeneChing]

Alec Baldwin codefendant gets 6 months' probation on gun charge in 'Rust' case (https://www.npr.org/2023/04/01/1167617865/alec-baldwin-codefendant-david-halls-probation-rust)
April 1, 20231:21 PM ET
By The Associated Press
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/04/01/ap23089854136414_custom-a7ae5f2b5f3934e0ed81743659bec10b525e416b-s800-c85.webp
In this image from video released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, Alec Baldwin speaks with investigators following a fatal shooting on a movie set in Santa Fe, N.M.
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office via AP, File

SANTA FE, N.M. — A codefendant in the case against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on a movie set in New Mexico was convicted Friday of unsafe handling of a firearm and sentenced to six months of probation.

Safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls also must pay a $500 fine, complete a gun-safety course and 24 hours of community service after agreeing to the conviction related to the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie "Rust."

Under the plea agreement, Halls agreed to testify truthfully at any upcoming hearings or trials. That includes criminal proceedings against Baldwin and movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who have pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death.

Halls appeared briefly by video to waive his right to challenge the negligence charge, as state District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer approved terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Defense attorney Lisa Torraco urged the court not to impose a prison sentence — the maximum possible penalty was 6 months behind bars — noting that Halls was "extremely traumatized and "rattled" with guilt.

Hutchins died shortly after she was shot on Oct. 21, 2021, during rehearsals on a film-set ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the weapon went off; a single live round killed her and wounded director Joel Souza.

If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed could face a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and fines.

Torraco said Halls had checked the rounds in the revolver before handing it to Baldwin to see whether they were dummies or blanks with an explosive. She said it was "never in anyone's imagination" that live rounds would be in the gun.

"When Ms. Gutierrez-Reed brought the firearm ... on set into the church, he did check the firearm," she said of Halls. "He wouldn't have even thought that there was a live round in that, in that gun. ... And he, like many others, is extremely traumatized."

But prosecutor Kari Morrissey said Halls, a veteran filmmaker of more than 30 years, failed in his duty as the last line of defense for firearms safety, and that the fatal shooting took place after two earlier weapons misfires on set.

"Mr. Halls did not check every round that was in the gun to confirm that it was a dummy round and not a live round," she said. "He then handed the gun to Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Baldwin began to practice his cross draw. And during that action of practicing the cross draw, the gun went off. And obviously Mrs. Hutchins was struck by the bullet and was killed. That is the factual basis for Mr. Halls taking the no contest plea to the unsafe handling of a deadly weapon."

In separate regulatory proceedings, workplace safety authorities have asserted Halls shared responsibility for identifying and correcting any hazardous conditions related to firearms safety in the movie's production.

Halls' sentencing took place on the 30th anniversary of the death of Brandon Lee. The son of martial-arts legend Bruce Lee was hit by a .44-caliber slug from a gun that was supposed to have fired a blank while filming "The Crow."

A weekslong preliminary hearing in May will decide whether evidence against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed is sufficient to proceed to trial.

In her sentencing, Judge Marlowe Sommer confirmed with Halls that he would "testify truthfully in all hearings, trials, or settings involving any and all defendants and co-defendants in this matter." Prosecutors can reopen the case if Halls violates the terms of the plea agreement.

Santa Fe's district attorney this week appointed two special prosecutors, Morrissey and Jason Lewis.

The original special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, resigned following missteps in the initial filing of charges against Baldwin and objections that her role as a state legislator created conflicting responsibilities. I trust this isn't an April fools thing because it would be in extremely poor taste

[GeneChing]

Alec Baldwin Back on ‘Rust’ Set As It Resumes Shooting in Montana (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/alec-baldwin-rust-montana-1235401011/)
More than a year after the gun he was holding discharged, killing the movie's cinematographer, the actor is now completing the Western.
BY WINSTON CHO

APRIL 24, 2023 3:24PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DJI_0605-YFR-H-2023.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1
Yellowstone Film Ranch, where 'Rust' is resuming its shoot. SCOTT JOHNSON/YELLOWSTONE FILM RANCH

Alec Baldwin has returned to the set of Rust to wrap up shooting the movie after New Mexico prosecutors dropped involuntary manslaughter charges against him, at least for now, in the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Filming on the low-budget Western resumed last week at Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana. In an Instagram post on Monday, Baldwin confirmed he was on set. “Now outside of Bozeman to complete RUST,” he said. “Montana is stunning.”

Production is expected to be completed by the end of May, according to Melina Spadone, a lawyer for Rust Movie Productions. Shooting was suspended in October 2021 after a revolver Baldwin was holding discharged, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, is an executive producer on the movie under a settlement he reached with the production to resolve a wrongful death suit, along with a documentary on the life and work of the cinematographer.

“The production will continue to utilize union crew members and will bar any use of working weapons and any form of ammunition,” Spadone said in a statement. “Live ammunition is — and always was — prohibited on set.”

Prior to clearing its members for work on the production, the Directors Guild of America said in a statement that the group “insisted upon extensive additional safety requirements, including dedicated safety personnel to assess risk and be present on-set throughout the production.” The guild stressed that, “Only once these conditions were met did we allow our members to work on the project.”

SAG-AFTRA, which said in a statement that it has “tentatively safety-cleared Rust,” also underscored additional safety requirements on set, like the production barring live ammunition and weapons capable of firing ammunition of any kind as well as the presence of union field representatives making regular visits to the production.

A spokesperson for the union added, “two highly regarded industry safety veterans, one a longtime stunt coordinator, are overseeing all aspects of safety as Set Safety Supervisors and will be on location throughout and available to us as necessary.”

Baldwin’s arrival in Montana to resume shooting last week coincided with prosecutors on Friday formally dropping involuntary manslaughter charges against him over the death of Hutchins, who was killed in New Mexico, where the movie initially filmed at Bonanza Creek Ranch. The special prosecutors, who were named to the case in April after the former lawyer overseeing criminal charges was forced to step down, wrote in a court filing that they were pulling the charges “since new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis.” They clarified in a statement that charges could be refiled.

During a hearing on Friday over charges against armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded the gun that Baldwin was holding when it discharged and was responsible for weapons and ammunition for the production, the judge overseeing the case pushed back a preliminary hearing to Aug. 9 to allow prosecutors to subpoena additional witnesses.

Additionally, Rust Movie Productions has announced that Patrick Scott McDermott will play the role of Lucas Hollister in the film.

In a statement, director Joel Souza said, “Though bittersweet, I am grateful that a brilliant and dedicated new production team is joining former cast and crew to complete what Halyna and I started.”

Katie Kilkenny contributed to this report.
'Resumes Shooting' is an awkward title for this...

[GeneChing]

Jan 19, 2024 11:22am PT
Alec Baldwin Indicted on Manslaughter Charge in ‘Rust’ Shooting (https://variety.com/2024/biz/news/alec-baldwin-manslaughter-rust-shooting-again-1235875855/)

By Gene Maddaus
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/DSC_9567.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1&resize=1000%2C563
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office

Alec Baldwin has been indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter, as prosecutors once again seek to hold the actor accountable for the on-set death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Baldwin, 65, was initially charged in the case in January 2023. But the charges were dropped three months later, after Baldwin’s defense team raised questions about whether his Colt .45 was functioning properly when it fired.

Hutchins was preparing to film a scene with Baldwin at a ranch near Santa Fe, N.M., in October 2021 when the gun went off. Baldwin has maintained that he did not pull the trigger.

If convicted, Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison.

“We look forward to our day in court,” said Baldwin’s attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, in a statement on Friday.

Two special prosecutors, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, sent the gun for further forensic testing last summer. Their experts, Lucien and Michael Haag, reconstructed the gun — which had been broken during FBI testing — and concluded that it could only have been fired by a pull of the trigger.

“This fatal incident was the consequence of the hammer being manually retracted to its fully rearward and cocked position followed, at some point, by the pull or rearward depression of the trigger,” the report concluded. “Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”

Morrissey and Lewis said in October that they intended to take the case to a grand jury within two months, stating that “additional facts” had come to light that pointed toward Baldwin’s culpability.

At the time, Nikas said the decision was “unfortunate.”

“It is unfortunate that a terrible tragedy has been turned into this misguided prosecution,” Nikas said. “We will answer any charges in court.”

The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, is set to go on trial on Feb. 21 on charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. Gutierrez Reed mistakenly loaded a live bullet into Baldwin’s gun, which was supposed to contain only dummies. It remains unclear how live rounds became mixed in with dummy rounds on the set.

Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, filed a wrongful death lawsuit shortly after the shooting, but reached a settlement in October 2022. The settlement provided for insurance funds and a portion of the film’s profits to benefit the couple’s son, who was 9 years old when his mother was killed.

The film has since been completed with additional filming in Montana, and is awaiting distribution.

At the time of the settlement, Matthew Hutchins indicated he did not blame Baldwin for the shooting.

“I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin),” Hutchins said. “All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.”

A few months later, however, when Baldwin was first charged with manslaughter, Hutchins’ attorney said the charges were warranted.

“We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law,” said the attorney, Brian Panish, in a statement at the time.

The initial prosecutors, Mary Carmack-Altwies and Andrea Reeb, held Baldwin responsible not only for pulling the trigger, but also for a series of management lapses that led to relaxed safety standards on set. However, the New Mexico division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded that Baldwin — though he was a producer on the film — was not in a position of management authority, and was not culpable for the lack of oversight.

The first assistant director, David Halls, pleaded no contest last March to a misdemeanor gun charge. He was given six months of unsupervised probation. Here we go again.

[GeneChing]

Feb 29, 2024 11:27am PT
‘Rust’ Set Footage Shows Alec Baldwin Rushing the Crew, Saying: ‘One More! Right Away! Let’s Reload!’ (https://variety.com/2024/film/news/rust-trial-alec-baldwin-rushing-behind-the-scenes-videos-1235926701/)

By Gene Maddaus

https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/DSC_9567.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1&resize=1000%2C563
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office

SANTA FE, N.M. — The director called “action,” and Alec Baldwin emerged from a wooden shed and advanced toward the camera, firing shots from an old pistol. As soon as he heard “cut,” the actor wanted to do the take again.

“One more! One more! One more! Right away!” Baldwin shouted. “Let’s reload!”

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the film’s 24-year-old armorer, hurried to put more blanks into his gun. Baldwin was visibly impatient. “Here we go! C’mon,” he said. “We should have two guns and both we’re reloading.”

Gutierrez Reed is now on trial for a fatal accident that occurred later on the set of “Rust.” On Thursday morning, jurors saw outtakes from the film, in which Baldwin could be seen using his pistol to point as he gave instructions to the crew.

The videos — seen publicly for the first time — are likely to be played again at Baldwin’s manslaughter trial in July. Both he and the armorer are accused of criminal negligence in the death of the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins.

Prosecutors have alleged that Baldwin is responsible both for firing the gun that killed Hutchins, and for management failures in his role as a producer. Baldwin’s defense has argued that he was a “creative” producer and was not in a supervisory role.

Kari Morrissey, one of two special prosecutors, played the videos during the questioning of Bryan Carpenter, a veteran armorer who is serving as the state’s expert witness. Carpenter testified that a series of behind-the-scenes videos showed numerous lapses in gun safety.

In several videos, a stuntman could be seen walking around with a shotgun pointed up — failing to maintain “muzzle discipline.” In another, the stuntman spun around with the gun pointed up, and then handed the gun to a child actor. He faulted Gutierrez Reed for failing to intervene or take the shotgun away.

In other scenes, Gutierrez Reed could be seen holding a shotgun upright by the barrel. Carpenter also said that when Baldwin was trying to speed up the reloading of the pistol, she should have slowed things down.

“Rushing with firearms and telling someone to rush with firearms is not normal nor accepted,” Carpenter testified. “In a situation like that, when you’re getting rushed to that extent, that’s when safety starts to fall by the wayside.”

https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/022924_GC_RustCourtThursday02.jpg
Bryan Carpenter, the state’s firearms expert, testifies during Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s involuntary manslaughter trial at the First Judicial District Courthouse in Santa Fe on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024.
Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
In another take, Baldwin could be seen lying on his back on the ground, while holding a pistol. He gestured with the gun, explaining to the crew how he was going to get up and fire.

“I don’t want to shoot toward you,” Baldwin said. “I’m going to shoot close to you.”

Asked if he saw anything wrong with the clip, Carpenter said: “He’s using the weapon as a pointing stick.”

At one point, Gutierrez Reed could be heard off-screen warning the crew: “Everyone in the path of the gun please move.”

Carpenter said it appeared that Gutierrez Reed was avoiding addressing the issue with Baldwin.

“She was attempting to not correct Mr. Baldwin, but to try to make the crew move in a more safe position,” Carpenter said.

On cross-examination, the armorer’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, noted that she was just starting out in the business, and was not even in the union yet. He asked if it would be hard for her to rein in an A-list actor like Baldwin.

“It would be a difficult situation,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter also testified that the production should have had two armorers. Gutierrez Reed was the only armorer, and was splitting her time between that and her role as prop assistant.

But the expert also testified that once she accepted the job, Gutierrez Reed took on the responsibility for others’ lives.

“If that is not something you feel capable of doing, you should never step into the position of doing it,” he said. “You have to be prepared to go home.”

https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/022924_GC_RustCourtThursday07.jpg
David Halls, first assistant director on Rust, uses his hand to resemble a gun to recreate a gesture that Alec Baldwin used while on set the day the Halyna Hutchins was killed.
Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
David Halls was the first assistant director on “Rust,” and the person ultimately responsible for safety on set. He pleaded no contest last year to a misdemeanor charge of negligent handling of a weapon, and served six months of unsupervised probation.

He took the stand on Thursday afternoon, and painted a different portrait of the “Rust” set. He said that until Hutchins was shot, he believed it was safe.

He said that Gutierrez Reed was diligent, and seemed confident and knowledgeable about firearms. He also said that she always checked guns with him before they were used in scenes, as required by industry safety protocols.

And he defended Baldwin, saying that the actor’s conduct on the videos didn’t raise safety concerns for him.

“I don’t characterize that as Mr. Baldwin rushing people,” Halls said. “I characterize it as an actor in his moment — ‘I’m ready. OK, let’s go.’ There was never Mr. Baldwin rushing anybody.”

Halls was also asked about two accidental discharges of blank rounds, which occurred a few days before Hutchins’ death. That incident raised concerns for many of the crew, and led complaints. Bowles asked Halls what he had done about it.

“I didn’t do anything,” Halls acknowledged. “When Blake’s long gun went off, I said, ‘What the F is going on in there?’ He replied, ‘It just went off.'”

Halls has been accused of handing Baldwin his Colt .45 just before Hutchins was shot. That would be a violation of safety rules that allow only the armorer and the actor to handle a weapon. On the stand, Halls denied handing it off, saying that Gutierrez Reed handed it directly to Baldwin.

Halls gave the same account in a December 2022 deposition for the New Mexico Occupational Safety and Health Bureau.

Halls has acknowledged from the beginning that he failed to fully check the gun before it was handed to Baldwin, saying he only saw the back of three or four dummy rounds when Gutierrez Reed rotated the cylinder for him.

Morrissey asked Halls why he had chosen to plead to a criminal charge.

“I was negligent in checking the gun properly,” he said.

Halls was three feet away from Hutchins when the gun went off. He became emotional when he described turning to Hutchins to ask if she was all right.

“She said, ‘I can’t feel my legs,'” Halls said, wiping his eyes with a tissue.

https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/022924_GC_RustCourtThursday05.jpg
A teary-eyed David Halls takes a moment to collect himself after recounting the moments following the accidental shooting of Halyna Hutchins.
Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
In the chaos that followed, Halls found the armorer and demanded that she open up the cylinder to show what was inside. He testified that she pulled out five dummies and one spent casing — the remnant of a live round.

Asked why he had decided to testify, Halls said he wanted to set the record straight.

“It’s important to me that the truth be known — that Halyna’s husband and son, her family, know the truth of what happened,” he said. “It’s important that the cast and the crew and the producers of ‘Rust’ know what happened. And it’s important that the industry, the motion picture and television industry, knows what happened so that this never happens again.”

After the shooting, Halls retired from the industry.
****ing...

[GeneChing]

Mar 7, 2024 12:34pm PT
‘Rust’ Trial: Hollywood Production Experts Agree With Verdict, Blame ‘Incredible Unprofessionalism’ for Gun Death (https://variety.com/2024/artisans/news/rust-verdict-hollywood-production-reaction-1235933029/#:~:text=Members%20of%20Hollywood%27s%20production %20community,the%20set%20of%20“Rust.”)

By Carolyn Giardina
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/030524_LS_Rust_1_RGB.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1&resize=1000%2C563
Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican

Members of Hollywood’s production community — citing “negligence” and “reckless” behavior — were generally unsurprised by Wednesday’s guilty verdict in the first trial to be held in connection to the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust.”

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer on the movie, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the incident, which occurred Oct. 21, 2021 during filming at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.

Those contacted by Variety, including DP Nancy Schreiber, a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, were angry and troubled by the failure to maintain a safe set. Citing the “negligence of loading live ammunition” near a film set, Schreiber wrote in an email to Variety, “Protocol was outrageously disregarded by the armorer as well as the first AD in our industry, where safety standards must always come first.”

Calling the incident “reckless and totally unnecessary,” Steven Shaw — a member of the DGA, ASC and SAG-AFTRA — agreed, saying, “in the end, it’s the responsibility of the armorer to take care of the quarter loads, half loads, full loads, and to make sure they are properly prepared and tested. There’s no excuse for not protecting Halyna Hutchins and the other people around the camera.”

And Stephen Lighthill, a past president of the ASC, wrote in an email to Variety. “Speaking as a private citizen, those responsible for the killing of Halyna are the actor who pointed the gun at Halyna, the AD who said the gun was safe, the armorer who loaded the weapon and the producer(s) who put this production together are all culpable.”

One source who spoke with Variety was a crew member on “Midnight Rider,” the 2014 production in which a train accident killed camera assistant Sarah Jones. The source, who did not wish to be named, suggested that there was “incredible unprofessionalism” on the “Rust” set, adding “another unneeded death happened because of negligence.”

The source keeps an eye out for safety when working. “If I see something dangerous. I will tell them,” the source said, adding “in a situation when they treat me offhanded, I will say, ‘I was on the set of “Midnight Rider.” … I was on the trestle.’ … That will hammer it home.”

But not all crew members feel they can speak up. Said the source, “I hope that studios and production companies and producers take more responsibility for safety on the set, and not just expect the crew to be the harbingers of safety. It’s not just about training. It’s about creating a safe environment.”

The sad reality is that Wednesday’s verdict also came on the anniversary of the death of Brent Hershman, a camera assistant on the film “Pleasantville” who died on March 6, 1997, in a car accident while driving home from set after a 19-hour work day. This incident contributed to the discussion of work hours and turnaround time.

Asked if he thinks the “Rust” verdict could bring more attention to on-set safety — an issue for many as the IATSE Basic Agreement negotiations get underway this week — Shaw responded, “I think so and should. Absolutely. There’s no reason that this young lady should be dead. It’s just totally unacceptable. Safety is the number one issue, especially when you’re firing a gun.”

The “Midnight Rider” crew member believes requiring an independent safety officer that has no affiliation (or conflicts of interest) with the production could be a step towards safer sets.

Variety has reached out to the International Cinematographers Guild (Local 600), of which Hutchins was a member.

Gutierrez Reed faces up to 18 months in prison; sentencing is expected next month. Alec Baldwin, who held the gun, will face charges during a trial is scheduled to begin on July 9. I've been saying this since the beginning. (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72174-Rust-accidental-shooting-of-Halyna-Hutchins&p=1322016#post1322016)