Alec Baldwin Returns to ‘Rust’ Set as Charges He Faced Are Dropped

Jul 08, 2023

Advertisement

Supported by

The actor is finishing the film in Montana, more than a year after a gun he was rehearsing with on set went off, killing its cinematographer.

By Julia Jacobs and Graham Bowley

PRAY, Mont. — Alec Baldwin was mounted on a chestnut horse in a steep gully in a snow-dusted valley in Montana on Friday, his first day back filming “Rust,” the western whose cinematographer was shot and killed in 2021 when a gun he was practicing with on its set went off.

“Set, ready, and … action,” cried Gerard DiNardi, the movie’s new first assistant director, and Mr. Baldwin urged the horse forward, toward a camera rigged on a pickup truck.

As Mr. Baldwin returned to the set of “Rust,” prosecutors in New Mexico filed court papers formally dismissing, at least for now, the involuntary manslaughter charges he had been facing in the shooting of the film’s original cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, who was killed outside Santa Fe, where the movie was initially filmed.

The prosecutors, Jason Lewis and Kari Morrissey, wrote in their filing in the case of the State of New Mexico vs. Alexander Rae Baldwin III that they were withdrawing the charges against him “since new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis” that could not be completed before a hearing, set to begin on May 3, at which a judge was to rule on whether the charges against Mr. Baldwin could proceed.

But the prosecutors held out the possibility that new charges against Mr. Baldwin could still be filed, writing that “the investigation is active and on-going.”

The prosecutors dropped the charges after receiving new evidence suggesting that the gun Mr. Baldwin had been practicing with when it fired the bullet that killed Ms. Hutchins had been modified without his knowledge, according to an official close to the investigation who was granted anonymity to discuss the case.

The new evidence cast doubt on the prosecution’s argument that Mr. Baldwin must have pulled the trigger, the official said. Mr. Baldwin, who was told the day of the shooting that the gun he was practicing with did not contain any live ammunition, has denied pulling the trigger, saying the gun fired after he had pulled its hammer back and let it go.

Seth Kenney, the owner of PDQ Arm & Prop, an Albuquerque company that was the primary supplier of guns to the production, said that he had not modified any of the guns he supplied for “Rust” and had no reason to, because all of them already functioned smoothly.

“The guns were not modified,” he said in an interview on Friday. “They were brand-new and in perfect working order.”

Mr. Baldwin, 65, has maintained that he was not responsible for the fatal shooting, which took place on Oct. 21, 2021, on a church set on a ranch outside Santa Fe. He has sued several people associated with the film, including the movie’s original first assistant director and its armorer, accusing them of negligence for giving him a loaded gun on the set that fired. The original first assistant director, Dave Halls, reached a plea deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to six months of probation.

The film’s original armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded the gun that day and was responsible for weapons and ammunition on the set, still faces involuntary manslaughter charges. She had also originally faced a preliminary hearing on the charges in May, but on Friday Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer agreed to delay it until Aug. 9, in part so that prosecutors could subpoena witnesses in their investigation.

Mr. Baldwin still faces several civil suits. Gloria Allred, a lawyer representing Mamie Mitchell, the former script supervisor for “Rust,” and Ms. Hutchins’s parents and sister, said in a statement on Friday that “we remain committed to fighting and winning for our clients and holding him accountable for pointing a loaded gun at Halyna Hutchins, pulling the trigger and killing her.”

“He can run to Montana and pretend that he is just an actor in a wild west movie,” she said in the statement, “but, in real life, he cannot escape from the fact that he had a major role in a tragedy which had real-life consequences for Halyna, her mother, father, sister and co-worker.” Mr. Baldwin has denied the claims in the civil suits against him.

The revived production of “Rust” is going ahead with the support of Ms. Hutchins’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, who was named an executive producer.

After New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau found that the company had demonstrated “plain indifference to the recognized hazards associated with the use of firearms on set,” the company behind the movie, Rust Movie Productions, agreed this year to pay a $100,000 settlement, which included a downgraded citation.

As filmmakers returned to finish the movie more than a year after the killing of Ms. Hutchins had shut down the film, they moved the production here to Montana, to a film set just north of Yellowstone National Park. Joel Souza, who was also struck by the bullet that killed Ms. Hutchins, was back in the director’s chair. He said in a statement that his “every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halyna’s legacy and making her proud.”

At the new location, Mr. Baldwin had gotten back into character as Harland Rust, a notorious outlaw who helps his grandson escape the death penalty, fleeing with him on horseback.

As filming resumed, and a light snow fell on the shrub land, the film’s newly hired armorer, Andrew Wert, adjusted the leather bandolier fitted onto the actor. Placed inside was what appeared to be ammunition for a .45 Long Colt. The bullets were rubber.

Julia Jacobs contributed reporting from Montana, and Graham Bowley from Toronto.

Graham Bowley is an investigative reporter on the Culture desk. He also reported for The Times from Afghanistan in 2012. He is the author of the book “No Way Down: Life and Death on K2.” More about Graham Bowley

Advertisement