Alec Baldwin didn’t realize Halyna Hutchins had been shot with live ammo until 45 MINUTES after
Alec Baldwin says he didn’t realize Halyna Hutchins had been shot with live ammo until 45 MINUTES after fatal shooting, claims he thought cinematographer had fainted, and blasts George Clooney’s dig at his gun safety during emotional TV interview
Halyna Hutchins, a 42-year-old cinematographer, was shot and killed on the set of Baldwin’s Western film Rust on October 21The film’s director Joel Souza was standing behind Hutchins while the scene was being rehearsed and was shot in the shoulderCourt records indicated that an assistant director, Dave Halls, handed Baldwin a loaded weapon and told him it was safe to use Baldwin has insisted that he did not pull the trigger and that the antique gun misfired – something Halls has corroborated
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Alec Baldwin broke down in tears multiple times on Thursday as he told, in his first TV interview, of the fatal on-set shooting of camerawoman Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin, who produced the film Rust as well as starred in it, revealed it 45 minutes after the shooting for it to even occur to him that live ammunition might have been used. He said that, when she fell to the ground on October 21, he thought she might have fainted.
‘She goes down. I thought to myself, ‘Did she faint?” Baldwin said, speaking to ANC News’s George Stephanopoulos.
‘The notion that there was a live round in that gun did not dawn on me till probably 45 minutes to an hour later.’
Alec Baldwin, 63, spoke to George Stephanopoulos for an interview which aired on Thursday
The Oscar-nominated actor and father of seven said he wanted to set the record straight
A tearful Baldwin spoke out for the first time in a full interview about the events of October 21
Baldwin said that, in the moments before the fatal shooting, they were participating in ‘a marking rehearsal.’
He said: ‘She’s getting me to position the gun – everything is at her direction. I draw the gun, to her marker.
‘I’m not shooting to the camera lens, I’m shooting just off. In her direction. This was a completely incidental shot, that may not have ended up in the film.’
Baldwin says he cocked the gun, and was discussing with Hutchins how it looked on camera.
‘I say can you see that, can you see that? Then I let go of the hammer and the gun goes off.
‘I never pulled the trigger. No, no, no. You would never do that.’
Dave Halls, the assistant director who was watching, confirmed Baldwin’s account, through his lawyer.
‘I let go of the hammer and bang, the gun goes off,’ Baldwin said.
‘The gun was supposed to be empty. She goes down. I thought to myself, did she faint.
‘The notion that there was a live round in the gun did not dawn on my until 45 mins later. I thought, was there wadding in there?
‘Did she have a heart attack? The idea that anyone had a live gun did not even occur to me.’
He said he stood over her for ‘about 60 seconds’ and was then ushered out.
Was she conscious, Stephanopoulous asked.
‘My recollection is yes,’ said Baldwin.
He said ‘no one had any idea’ until a police officer showed a photo of the ammunition removed from Souza’s arm.
He said then began ‘the agony, insanity, that someone put a live bullet in the gun.’
Stephanopoulos asked about the photo of Baldwin with his head in his hands.
The live round that Alec Baldwin fired and accidentally killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust may have been a homemade bullet, according to court documents
‘She was laying there and she was there for a while I was amazed at how long they didn’t get her in a car or get her out, but they waited until a helicopter came,’ he said.
‘And by the time the helicopter took off with her we were literally all glutted to that process outside.
‘When she finally left, I don’t know how long she was there for. She kept saying, she’s stable, just as you disbelieve there was a live round in the gun, you disbelieve its going to be a fatal accident.
‘At the end of my interview with the sheriff’s department, they told me ‘we regret to inform you she didn’t make it,’ they told me then and there.’
He added: ‘That’s when I went outside and called my wife.’
Baldwin said both he and Hutchins thought the gun was empty.
‘Halyna and I had something profound in common: we both presumed the gun was empty,’ he said.
The Oscar-nominated actor said that he had been handed the antique gun and told it was safe, and he trusted the people who told him that.
‘The gun was supposed to be empty,’ Baldwin added. ‘I was told I was handed an empty gun.’
Asked about criticism that he should not have pointed the gun at anyone, Baldwin was defensive, insisting that he and Hutchins were working through the moves for a scene.
Earlier in the month, George Clooney called the shooting ‘insane’ and ‘infuriating’.
‘Every single time I’m handed a gun on the set — every time — they hand me a gun, I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it too, I show it to the crew,’ Clooney said.
‘Every single take. You hand it back to the armor when you’re done.’
Clooney added: ‘Part of it is because of what happened to Brandon. Everyone does it. Everyone knows.
‘Maybe Alec did that — hopefully he did do that.’
Baldwin told Stephanopoulos he was unimpressed with Clooney’s remarks.
‘There were a lot of people who felt it necessary to contribute a comment to the situation which really didn’t help the situation,’ Baldwin said.
‘You checked the gun yourself, well good for you.
‘I probably handled weapons as many as any other actor in film. I had a protocol, and it never let me down, until now.’
He said he trusted others on set to do their job.
‘One person has that responsibility to maintain the gun.’
Baldwin said he was unaware of Hutchins’s work until he was introduced to her by the film’s director, Joel Souza.
‘I knew nothing about her til Joel said ‘I got her’,’ Baldwin said.
‘She was fantastic.’
Halyna Hutchins was described by Baldwin as ‘fantastic’, as he paid tribute to her vision and professionalism
Halyna Hutchins is seen with head electrician on the Rust movie set, Serge Svetnoy
Hutchins’ October 19, 2021 Instagram post showed cast members and staffers, including Baldwin alongside Hutchins herself and armorer Gutierrez-Reed (circled left to right) on the set of Rust in Santa Fe, New Mexico
‘Her work was beautiful. She was someone who was loved by everyone who worked with her, and liked by everyone who worked with her, and was admired.’
He then broke down into sobs.
Detectives had approved a search warrant to probe Seth Kenney, a 51-year-old Hollywood veteran who was supposed to provide the film with dummy rounds. Kenney also mentored the film’s rookie armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, pictured above
Baldwin composed himself, and discussed concerns about the budget, and union complaints.
But he then broke down again talking about the film.
He said he rarely made films any more, as it would entail long periods of time away from his wife Hilaria and their six children. But he agreed to Rust because he loved the script, and was excited about the New Mexico filming.
‘This movie made me love making movies again,’ he said. ‘I really thought we were onto something.’
After the fatal shooting, Baldwin met Hutchins’s husband, Matthew.
‘He hugged me and said: ‘I guess we’re going to go through this together.”
He said that Hutchins’s husband and son were incredibly kind.
‘This boy doesn’t have a mother any more,’ Baldwin said.
‘And there is nothing we can do to bring her back.
‘I said: I don’t know what to say.’
Baldwin said he ‘would be stunned’ if Matthew Hutchins did not seek some form of civil redress.
Halyna Hutchins is seen with her husband Matthew and their son, in a 2018 photo
Hutchins, born in Ukraine, was fondly remembered by those who worked with her on the set of Rust
He said he accompanied Matthew to Halyna’s memorial, and they had spoken since, but Baldwin believed his lawyers were now advising him to be cautious.
Earlier, Baldwin said he wanted to stress from the beginning that his thoughts were with the family of Hutchins and Souza, who was also shot in the disaster.
‘I want to make sure that I don’t come across as a victim, as there are two victims here,’ he said.
Dave Halls (pictured) was working on the set of Rust as the assistant director, and handed Alec Baldwin the gun that then killed camerawoman Halyna Hutchins
Halls, an experienced assistant director, is pictured on the set of Rust, outside Santa Fe in New Mexico
He said: ‘I can’t imagine ever doing another movie that has a gun in it’.
Baldwin added: ‘There is only one question to be answered, only one.
‘And that is: where did the live round come from?’
The fatal gunshot may have been a homemade bullet that a New Mexico armorer supplied from a previous film where the makeshift ammunition was used to train actors at a firing range, according to court documents.
Detectives are investigating whether Seth Kenney, a 51-year-old Hollywood veteran who was supposed to provide the film with dummy rounds and blanks, may have sent recycled bullets from a previous set, according to an affidavit filed by the Sante Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators continue to probe Hutchins’ death, and have yet to file any criminal charges.
‘A live round is not supposed to be anywhere near the set,’ Baldwin said.
Asked if he was worried about being charged, Baldwin said: ‘I don’t have anything to hide.’
Baldwin was asked if he thought there had been sabotage – a prospect floated by the lawyer for the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed.
‘No, because I can’t believe a world in which that could have happened,’ he replied.
‘That’s a big swing. That’s an enormous charge to make. To attack who, to discredit who? Me? The production?’
He said he ‘feels terrible’ for what has happened to Gutierrez Reed and Halls, the assistant director.
Baldwin said he hopes the sheriffs office ‘follow this to the end of the earth.’
He added: ‘At the same time, I don’t want to see Hannah suffer, Halls suffer.’
Baldwin said it had been ‘very tough’.
‘I don’t think anyone has used this as an opportunity, except those you would expect.
‘The former president of the United States said he thinks I did it deliberately. I thought to myself, just as I think it couldn’t get any more surreal.’
Two people have filed suits.
Serge Svetnoy, the lighting director, who was close to Hutchins and cradled her as she lay dying, has filed for emotional distress.
Baldwin emphasized that he found it ‘unsettling’ that Svetnoy’s suit was filed before Matthew Hutchins filed his.
Baldwin said that ‘one of the two’ told him outside the church: ‘What happened is not your fault.’
Svetnoy confirmed through his lawyers that it was he who told Baldwin he was blameless.
‘That person has the right to change their mind, of course,’ Baldwin said.
Baldwin said: ‘To be honest, I couldn’t give a f*** about my career any more.’
He said he was not sure if he would make any more films.
‘Nobody gave a f*** who you are any more until this. You see a lot of people with their phones now, in a coffee shop,’ he said, showing them filming him.
Is this the worst thing that has ever happened to you, Stephanopoulous asked.
‘Yep. Because I think back, what could I have done.
‘Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who it is, but it’s not me.
‘Honest to God, if I thought I was responsible I might have killed myself. And I don’t say that lightly.’
He stressed again: ‘Who bought bullets onto the set?’
Baldwin said: ‘I’ve worked with some of the greatest cinematographers in world. And she is the loveliest woman.
‘I think it’s important to remember she is as admired as she loved. People really thought she had a great talent.’
