Although the doc accommodates behind-the-scenes footage from the set of the Western film and interviews with the solid and crew, the “30 Rock” actor loomed large over the documentary, despite not making a direct appearance.
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Alec Baldwin Shot Halyna Hutchins On Set In 2021
On October 21, 2021, Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene for a Western film inside a church in Recent Mexico. He pulled out his gun, and, although he claims that he didn’t pull the trigger, the gun fired. This gun, which someway contained an actual bullet as an alternative of a dummy round, shot throughout Halyna Hutchins and have become embedded within the shoulder of director Joel Souza.
The late cinematographer passed away en path to a hospital in Albuquerque. Souza was hospitalized and would go on to make a full recovery. He would even finish filming “Rust” in Montana the next yr. And although the documentary does include footage of this set, together with an interview with recent cinematographer Bianca Cline, Baldwin doesn’t discuss the matter any greater than he already has.
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Why Alec Baldwin Opted Not To Participate In The Documentary

It’s pretty clear why Baldwin selected to not take part in the documentary. It was pretty clear that anything he said can and will probably be held against him. Occurring record to confess fault in Hutchins’s death wouldn’t have helped him when he was facing involuntary manslaughter charges.
The State of Recent Mexico filed charges against him and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in January 2023, over a yr after Hutchins’s death. The fees against Baldwin were dropped in April 2023 while the FBI conducted testing on the gun utilized in the fatal shooting. Charges were refiled in January 2024, only a number of months before a jury found Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter. In April 2024, a judge sentenced her to the state maximum of 18 months behind bars.
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Baldwin Is Still Facing Multiple Civil Lawsuits
![Police in the US have released video footage from the set of the film Rust, including of the aftermath of the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin. Halyna Hutchins, 42, was shot by Mr Baldwin while he rehearsed with what he believed to be a safe gun. Footage, which has no audio, released shows Baldwin dressed as a cowboy rehearsing with a gun ahead of the deadly shooting. He can be seen in stills from that video posing with the gun, and with ammo / ammunition on his costume in a scene set in a church. A clapper board with Ms Hutchins' name on it can also be seen. It's not known if the gun he is holding is the one that fired the deadly bullets. The actor, who was also a producer on the film, previously said he did not pull the trigger and had no idea how a live bullet came to be on the set near Santa Fe in the US state of New Mexico. The Santa Fe County sheriff’s office released a trove of documents released to the investigation this week. 26 Apr 2022 Pictured: Alec Baldwin seen in stills from video footage of Rust rehearsals released by investigators in the US. Photo credit: Santa Fe County Sheriff/MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342 (Mega Agency TagID: MEGA851467_005.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]](https://theblast.prod.media.wordpress.mattersmedia.io/brand-img/123/0x0/2023/01/Alec_Baldwin_Rust_Charges_2.jpg?)
Baldwin was facing the identical sentence if convicted, but lucky for him, the trial never made it that far. Within the second day of witness testimony, a criminal offense scene tech testified that there was evidence – bullets, specifically – that was never turned over to the defense. The judge ruled that the one appropriate treatment of this Brady violation was to dismiss the fees with prejudice, meaning that Baldwin can never again face criminal charges for his role in Hutchins’s death.
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Nonetheless, that does not imply that he’s out of the woods yet. He remains to be named in several civil lawsuits because of his producer credit, including one brought by Hutchins’s mother, father, and sister. Although he might not be facing time behind bars, the burden of proof in a civil matter is quite a bit lower, and any good lawyer would advise his client to not say anything incriminating.
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That Being Said, Baldwin Still Has An Awful Lot To Say About The Shooting

Although the “Beetlejuice” actor may not have quite a bit to say about Halyna Hutchins, he does have quite a bit to say about himself within the aftermath of the shooting. His wife, Hilaria Baldwin, particularly, seems wanting to paint Baldwin as a victim of circumstance on their TLC reality show “The Baldwins.”
Even The Documentary Didn’t Feature Enough Halyna Hutchins

“I hoped it may need just a little more Halyna in it or been just a little more about Halyna,” Souza said before addressing the director. “I do know that was your original intention if you talked to me about it. And I could tell after we would talk through the years in the interim that you just were under some pressure.”
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Mason, who met Hutchins when their sons went to preschool together, admitted that there had been a “shift” within the direction of the movie. “A movie has these evolutions; it starts with the thing you imagine you possibly can do, and you then start working on it, and you possibly can’t really try this thing anymore,” she explained. “You shift.”
Nonetheless, on the Q&A, she seemed eager to put the main target back on her friend. When asked by an audience member how difficult it might be to make the film, she replied, “Possibly if anyone out here knew Halyna and would have anything to say. It could just be awesome to listen to a story about Halyna.”
Although there wasn’t a number of give attention to Halyna Hutchins’s life within the documentary, it’s an excellent thing that Baldwin wasn’t present, as his star power would have overshadowed her already fading legacy completely.