Alec Baldwin had always maintained his innocence regarding the death of Halyna Hutchins.
“Someone is responsible for what happened and I can’t say who it is, but I know it’s not me,” he said in an interview in December 2021, six weeks after the tragedy on the set of Rust in New Mexico.
This was the first filming on a Hollywood set in almost 30 years. The main question that needed to be answered, she said, was how the bullet ended up there in the first place.
The film’s gunsmith, Hannah Gutiérrez, was jailed earlier this year for her role in Mrs. Hutchins‘ death, but the question of the live bullet – one of at least six, investigators discovered – has never been officially answered.
Baldwin did not speak to reporters outside the court after the dismissal of his high-profile case. As a household name for almost 40 years, he’s more than used to having all eyes on him, but this was a very different kind of attention. In the courtroom, he was Alexander Rae Baldwin, not Alec Baldwin, the Hollywood star.
The actor was first charged with two counts of manslaughter in 2023: one that required proof of underlying negligence and the second that required proof that there was more than simple negligence, including a firearm enhancement that caused the crime. was punishable by a mandatory five years in prison.
The second charge was dropped in February of that year and then in April all criminal charges against him were dropped.
Hilaria Baldwin has supported her husband in court. Photo: Ramsay of Give/Pool via AP
He was then charged again in January of this year and the case went to trial, despite motions to dismiss before it began. There have also been lawsuits filed by several members of Ms. Hutchins’ crew and family.
But Baldwin, known for films such as The Departed, It’s Complicated and The Hunt For Red October, as well as his performances on Saturday Night Live, has continued to work; He has a movie coming out next week, Clear Cut, with Stephen Dorff, and plans for a reality show with his family in 2025. He shares seven young children with his wife Hilaria, who supported him at court.
Other upcoming films, according to the IMDb movie database, include Atrabilious, opposite Leon Addison Brown, Whoopi Goldberg and Jeffrey Wright; Kid Santa, also starring his brother Billy Baldwin; and Hollywood Heist, with Nick Cannon, Mickey Rourke and Tara Reid.
And among the projects he has in the pipeline is Rust, the film at the center of this case. In the film, Baldwin plays Harland Rust, an outlaw who comes out of hiding to rescue his grandson, who has been sentenced to death for an accidental murder. It is not known when the film will be released.
Filming on the western moved from New Mexico to Paradise Valley in Montana and restarted in April 2023, with Hutchins’ husband Matthew serving as executive producer and Joel Souza, who was injured in the shooting, returning as director.
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“While bittersweet, I am grateful to have a brilliant and dedicated new production team joining the previous cast and crew to complete what Halyna and I started,” Souza said at the time.
“Following a tragic accident, our top priority has always been to complete this film as a tribute to the vision and art of Halyna Hutchins,” Melina Spadone, an attorney for Rust Movie Productions, said following the dismissal of Baldwin’s case. “Working alongside Halyna’s husband, Matthew, we look forward to sharing this film with the world.”
Hutchins, 42, was considered a rising star in her field, an experienced cinematographer and crew member with previous credits on action films who was used to being on location, helping bring stories to the screen.
On October 21, 2021, he showed up at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico for what should have been a normal day of work. She died after a real bullet was loaded into a gun on a film set that should have only seen blanks and fake bullets.
Mrs. Hutchins’ family and loved ones now have only her memories.
For Baldwin, the criminal case has been dismissed and he can now begin to put the process behind him. But almost three years after the tragedy, the question of how the live ammunition got to the set still remains.
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