It has come to light that Alec Baldwin tried to arrange a settlement that would have allowed him to finish making the Rust movie, as per Variety. According to the publication, Baldwin revealed the same in a Friday arbitration filing.
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As per the report, the filing states , “No one who had been involved in ‘Rust’ is eager to return to New Mexico. It was only after an enormous input of time and work that Baldwin was able to convince each of the primary actors needed to complete the film and the film’s director Souza — who had been injured in that day’s events — 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.”
The settlement, however, ended with Matthew Hutchins, the widower of Rust’s cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, filing a wrongful lawsuit against Baldwin.
Late October, a prop firearm handled by Baldwin went off on the Rust movie set near Santa Fe, New Mexico, killing Hutchins and wounding the director Joel Souza.
The incident has started a conversation about the safety protocols on movie sets, with many in Hollywood decrying that proper procedures are not always followed, resulting in tragedy suchs as this. This is not the first incident of death by accidental shooting on a set. Brandon Lee, actor, martial artist and the son of late martial arts legend Bruce Lee, died in a freak incident similar to this one in 1993.
Baldwin has maintained that he did not know the weapon was loaded with live rounds. He later said in a televised interview in December 2021 with George Stephanopoulos that he never pulled the trigger, and he denied responsibility for the shooting. He also said then that he had no idea how a live round got onto the set of the film.
