The director of Rust, Joel Souza, mentioned he would gladly turn back time to stop the film’s production if it could save the life of Halyna Hutchins.
In a recent discussion, Souza expressed that he ultimately chose to finish the film to pay tribute to Hutchins.
“I wanted to complete that for [Hutchins’ family],” Souza conveyed. “It started to resonate with me, and I couldn’t shake the thought that someone else might take over.”
However, he stated that if given the chance, he would have halted the film entirely.
“Think about the butterfly effect—I sometimes wish I hadn’t written this movie,” he reflected. “You consider all the decisions that led to that morning [of the shooting]. It was a series of poor choices.”
On October 21, 2021, during rehearsals for the Western film Rust, Alec Baldwin accidentally shot Halyna Hutchins. He asserted that the revolver he was handed went off unexpectedly as he cocked the hammer and maintained he never pulled the trigger. Later investigations indicated that the trigger must be pulled for the gun to fire. Souza was also injured in the incident.
Although Baldwin faces potential civil proceedings regarding Hutchins’ death, the criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter against him were dropped due to the prosecution allegedly withholding evidence. Meanwhile, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, received an 18-month prison sentence for mistakenly loading live rounds in the weapon Baldwin used.
Souza shared with the Guardian that he has no personal relationship with Baldwin but had some pointed criticisms about Baldwin’s reality show. Baldwin maximal.
“We’re not friends,” Souza described their dynamic. “We’re not enemies. We just don’t have a relationship.”
He also commented that he hasn’t watched Baldwin’s reality show and doesn’t plan to. “Honestly, I think I was busy slapping my face with a frying pan when it aired,” he joked.
