View gallery
Alec Baldwin64, is remembering filmmaker Halyna Hutchins one year after the tragic accident on the set of Rust that ended her life. “One year ago today…” he captioned an image (seen here) of Halyna operating a movie camera. Halyna was murdered on the New Mexico set of the controversial western film after Alec fired a prop gun that was loaded with live ammunition and hit her. Halyna, who served as the director of photography, was 42 years old when she died. The film’s director Joel Souza49, was also shot in his shoulder but survived his injuries.
Alec’s comment section was immediately flooded with prayers, well wishes, and thoughts sent out to both Alec and Haylna’s family. “Stay strong my friend. Thinking about you and all those affected by this terrible accident,” beloved actor Leslie Jordan, 67, wrote. “Wishing you solace and sending love,” activist Gene Baur added.
No criminal charges have been pressed against anyone involved in the horrific incident, but the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office is still investigating Haylna’s death. Alec and other members of the production, however, have been sued multiple times, including by the family of the late cinematographer. The wrongful death lawsuit came in Feb. 2022, about four months after her tragic death on set, and called out Alec and the movie’s producers for exhibiting “reckless behavior”.
The lawsuit is now in the process of being dismissed, according to a statement by Halyna’s husband, Matthew Hutchins, that he released on Oct. 5. “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,” he said. “The filming of Rustwhich 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),” Matthew continued in the statement. “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.”
Before the filing, the Beetlejuice actor sat down with ABC’s Good Morning America and claimed he did not pull the trigger on the gun that killed Halyna. “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,” he explained. “Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property,” he added. A forensic report by the FBI released in August, however, said the gun that was in Alec’s hand “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger,” according to ABC News.
