Alec Baldwin pushed to finish Rust to “honor Halyna Hutchins’s memory and talent”
Baldwin reportedly convinced his castmates, and wounded director Joel Souza, to finish the movie, before Hutchins' husband filed a wrongful death suit
Aux News Halyna Hutchins
In a less tragic universe, none of us would probably have ever heard of, or thought much about, Rust, the low-budget indie Western now notable almost solely for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film’s set. The film is now, unsurprisingly, embroiled in a few different legal cases related to Hutchins’ death, which occurred on October 21, 2021, when a firearm held by star and producer Alec Baldwin unexpectedly discharged with a live round inside it. The most prominent of said cases, to date, being the wrongful death suit that’s been lodged by Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, which names Baldwin and other producers as responsible for his wife’s death.
Today (per Variety), a somewhat shocking finding has emerged from court filings relating to the case: That Baldwin pushed his castmates, and director Joel Souza (also injured in the incident), to resume filming on Rust, starting just two weeks after Hutchins death.
This filing actually comes from Baldwin’s own camp, who positioned is as a positive. I.e., “That finishing Rust was an important step in honoring Halyna Hutchins’s memory and talent, defining her legacy, and, in turn, providing financial support to her family.”
That last part relates to settlement conversations that reportedly occurred between Baldwin and Matthew Hutchins, which included Baldwin floating the idea that a settlement for Hutchins and his son could be increased if the film was completed and released. Baldwin’s filing states that Hutchins initially expressed interest in the plan, but then became “less open-minded,” before ultimately filing his own lawsuit and issuing statements placing blame for his wife’s death at least partially on Baldwin.
The filing continues:
When agreeing to complete Rust, every person involved spoke of Halyna Hutchins’s flourishing talent and their desire to celebrate her legacy through completion of the film. But plans to complete Rust and to channel its proceeds into a fund for Hutchins’ and his son’s benefit have unfortunately broken down as a result of the lawsuit and these public statements.
It’s nearly impossible to imagine what possible good could actually come from releasing Rust under these circumstances; it seems deeply unlikely that the film could exist as anything other than a ghoulish opportunity for cinematic rubbernecking at this point. In any case, Hutchins’ opposition to the plan appears to have scuttled any possible plans that might have existed.
Baldwin continues to deny that he had any responsibility for the incident, pointing focus on whoever on the film’s set allowed a live round to be placed in the firearm.
31 Comments
You know, I’m starting to suspect this Alec Baldwin character might not be the nicest guy around.
Right? Like, is it a shock that he’s kind of a dirtbag? Is it?
A lot of folks forgot what kind of person he really was while he was hamming it up as Trump on SNL.
why would anyone care? there’s like 4 or 5 people in the entire history of that show that weren’t arrogant nightmares to work with. It’s not like every single one of those clips wasn’t greeted by a chorus of complaints about how terrible he is and how he called his daughter a pig, either.
This is shitty, because Baldwin’s famous and presumably extremely wealthy. But as the legal filing goes, it’s basic common sense. People form production companies to insulate themselves from liability. It seems like a good bet that if Rust is never released, many if not all of the entities likely to be held liable will be effectively judgment proof, holding nothing but debt.
It’s nearly impossible to imagine what possible good could actually come from releasing Rust under these circumstancesWell just a paragraph ago you said…a settlement for Hutchins and his son could be increased if the film was completed and releasedI don’t blame anyone – least of all Hutchins’ widower – for not having any interest in, or having outright contempt for the idea of completing the film though.
The latter is an intimation of what Baldwin suggested. The former is the writer’s view.
There was obviously an absurd amount of incompetence here, but at the end of the day it was a tragic accident. Stunt men sometimes die on films that are completed and released, just like construction workers die in buildings that are finished. Frankly a whole lot more people would watch this now than before, so finishing it and setting aside a percentage for the family actually makes sense to me.
Initially I read this as Alec Baldwin tearfully trying to finish his online survival game for a fellow streamer.
I dunno. People didn’t seem upset that The Crow was finished and released after Brandon Lee’s tragic death.
If The Crow hadn’t been completed and released, that freak accident would’ve been the main thing Lee was remembered for (that and being Bruce’s son). The Crow being a good movie, and Lee being freaking awesome in it, gave him a legacy beyond just being a footnote in the history of on-set accidents.
And likewise Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) despite the death of Victor Morrow (a great actor and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s dad) and two child actors due to a helicopter stunt that multiple stuntmen advised against.
I think after any accident that results in death or severe injury, the production should – at the very least – submit to some kind of outside review and demonstrate they’ve fixed any and all safety issues before starting production again.
Oh, they’d definitely need outside oversight if they were to continue.
Everyone here is citing on-camera performances as comparisons, but that’s not comparable. As watching Rust wouldn’t be celebrating a person you’re seeing alive on screen. You’d be watching actors go about their business knowing that some of what you’re watching was shot by her, some of it wasn’t and you wouldn’t be able to tell who was behind the camera when because that’s not a factor when you’re watching a film, so it would take you out of it.
Watching Rust wouldn’t be appreciating her final work. It would be watching people not her continuing to work after the person filming them at some point was killed and replaced so they could finish filming something so you could watch them.
The sad thing is it will be wildly successful due to the notoriety alone.
Just let it die like that Midnight Rider movie about Greg Allmond that resulted in an innocent woman dying as well. Nobody needs this nor wants it.
Did you combine a great guitar player with a mediocre nut?
Sometimes you feel like a Ramblin Man, sometimes you don’t.
You know I had a feeling autocorrect was going to ding me hard on his surname and it did yet I didn’t check so that’s on me. Whoops.
When I die, finish whatever the fuck you’re working on. I don’t care. I’m dead.
That’s what I feel when I read about the scandals that involve pathologists keeping brains in jars for scientific study after autopsies. “Oh no, my brain might help medical science after I die rather than rot in the ground! How awful!”
No one wants to see this damn movie.
Sadly sickos will want to watch it just to find the scene they think was the one the lady died during.
“it seems deeply unlikely that the film could exist as anything other than a ghoulish opportunity for cinematic rubbernecking at this point.”How is this any different than the cameraman that was killed on the set of the Dark Knight?How is it any different than the crew member who was crushed to death on the set of GI Joe: Retaliation? Or the crew member who drowned on the set of The Lone Ranger while cleaning a water tank?
Or is it just because this is a movie death that was in the news for more than a day?
I wasn’t aware of those last two examples and I find them deeply sad. Yes, it is a tragedy to die during the making of a good movie like The Crow or The Dark Knight, but to die for a terrible movie?
But Ledger didn’t even die making The Dark Knight. He died at his home. Filming for The Dark Knight had been finished for months, it was in the post-production process when Ledger died. A better example would be that Terry Gilliam film he was on break from filming but even that wasn’t really comparable to Rust because (again) Ledger didn’t die onset from a stunt gone wrong. Even then, Gilliam apparently planned to cancel the film until Ledger’s family gave their blessing to continue and some of his friends offered to fill in for him (I can’t remember if it was for free or on the condition that their payment for the film be put into a trust for Ledger’s daughter).
We’re not talking about Ledger, we are talking about the actual Dark Knight crew death on set. Conway Wickliffe who was filming a car chase from the back seat of a vehicle when it crashed.
The ghoulisher but 500% true answer is “because Alec Baldwin meanie Hollyweird (get the bun salve) libooral”, but he certainly doesn’t help by not taking the hint to just weld his mouth shut and bury himself in a hole for a while. If it was a Lesser Baldwin, this would coast by.Not sure why I had to say that, but not sure why you had to ask.
Oh Please. Alec Baldwin doesn’t care about anything but Alec Baldwin, and it’s silly to pretend otherwise.
I can understand both parties here, both Baldwin wanting to finish the film out of a sense of obligation, and Hutchins eventually wanting nothing to do with it. Hopefully the two parties will reach a settlement and everyone will be able to move on from this tragedy.