Alec Baldwin has broken the silence about the tragedy on the set of Rust. The actor and protagonist has spoken for the first time about the incident in which Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer of the western that was filmed in Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, died by accident. “I did not pull the trigger,” says Baldwin in an interview with journalist George Stephanopoulos that will be broadcast Thursday night on ABC. “I would never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger,” says the actor in one of the advances of the conversation, which has aroused great anticipation in the face of the mysteries of the accident that occurred on October 21.
“She was loved by everyone,” says Baldwin, 62, referring to Hutchins, the filmmaker whose death shocked an entire industry and has even led some ongoing productions to ban the use of real weapons on their sets. The photographer was shot in the chest while Baldwin rehearsed a scene with a Colt revolver. The gun, which should have been checked by the production gunsmith and assistant director, was loaded. Hutchins died minutes later despite being airlifted to a hospital. Joel Souza, the director of the film, was also hit in the shoulder.
The interview, which will be broadcast at eight o’clock at night in the eastern United States, shows an emotional Baldwin and, at times, disheartened when he breaks into tears. Stephanopoulos, a veteran journalist for the network, wants to know what everyone who has heard about this case has wondered: How did a real bullet get on set? “I have no idea, someone put a real bullet in the gun, a bullet that should not even have been on the property,” responds the protagonist of the film, who recently hired a law firm in Los Angeles to help him. with your defense in the lawsuits that have been filed. Police seized more than 500 bullets when they searched the Bonanza Creek ranch.
In early November a production technician, who claims to have helped Hutchins in his last minutes of life, filed a lawsuit against Baldwin and the rest of the producers for negligence and lack of professionalism. Serge Svetnoy believes that those in charge of the shoot, and the 24-year-old gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, did not do everything in their power to respect security protocols in the filming located at the Bonanza Creek ranch, in Santa Fe, capital of New Mexico.
Stephanopoulos asks Baldwin if this incident is the worst thing that has ever happened to him. “Yes, of course. I think what I could have done ”, he replies.
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