Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ husband said that it made him angry to see actor Alec Baldwin not accepting any responsibility for causing her death on the sets of Rust with his prop gun.
Matt Hutchins spoke about the incident for the first time since his wife’s death during an interaction with TODAY on Wednesday.
Halyna Hutchins died on October 21, 2021 after a prop gun misfired when Baldwin was rehearsing with the firearm on the film’s set in Bonanza Creek, New Mexico. The incident also left director Joel Souza injured.
Since then, Baldwin (who is also one of the producers), assistant director Dave Halls, and armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed have been under investigation. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the film’s makers for negligence and unlawful conduct.
Referring to a December 2021 interview of Baldwin with ABC News, Matt Hutchins told TODAY ’s Hoda Kotb, “I was so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly, in such a detailed way, and then not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her.”
Baldwin had told host George Stephanopoulos, “Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.”
The actor had also said, “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them. Unless the person is the cinematographer who’s directing me where to point the gun for her camera angle. That’s exactly what happened.” He had added, “Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.”
While the possibility of pressing charges against Baldwin has not been ruled out yet, police investigation has found that Halls was the one who had declared that the prop was a “cold gun” – one without live rounds. Firearm supplier Kenny had suggested that a confusion between live and dummy rounds might have caused the accident. Both Halls and Reed admitted that they had not checked the gun before handing it to the next concerned person.
However, Hutchins said, “The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me.”
He also added, “But gun safety was not the only problem on that set. There were a number of industry standards that were not practised and there are multiple responsible parties.”
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Hutchins’ statement comes a week after he filed a lawsuit against Baldwin and the other producers alleging that their cost-cutting measures and disregard of safety protocols led to his wife’s wrongful death.
Like the two previous suits filed by gaffer Serge Svetnoy and script supervisor Maime Mitchell, the current lawsuit also highlights Reed’s lack of experience, the armourer having only worked on one film prior to Rust.
It further notes that given Baldwin’s experience, he should have assumed that the gun in question was loaded, until it was demonstrated otherwise, and that he should not have pointed it at Hutchins.
The cinematographer is survived by her husband and their nine-year-old son Andros Hutchins. The family is seeking compensation for Hutchins’ wrongful death.