Alec Baldwin DOESN’T feel guilty about set shooting tragedy and says someone else is responsible
Alec Baldwin says he DOESN’T feel guilty about accidentally shooting cinematographer dead and claims someone else is responsible for tragedy: Star also blasts George Clooney for making dig at his gun safety habits
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 he 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 Baldwin said he does not feel guilty because someone else was responsible for the tragedy The Oscar-nominated actor said that it did not occur to him that the gun could have contained live ammunition until about 45 minutes after the shootingHe thought Hutchins had fainted or had a heart attack, and both he and she believed the gun being used was emptyBaldwin hit back at critics saying he should never have pointed the gun at people, insisting that he was working with HutchinsHe said that George Clooney’s remarks blasting his gun safety habits as unhelpful Baldwin said he no longer cares about his career, says it might be over – but then promptly announced plans to appear in another film shooting from January
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Alec Baldwin has said he does not feel guilty about his accidental on-set shooting of camerawoman Halyna Hutchins, because someone else was responsible for bringing the live ammunition onto set.
Hutchins, 42, was shot and killed on October 21 on the set of the Western film Rust, which was being filmed in New Mexico.
Baldwin, who produced Rust as well as starred in it, also hit back at George Clooney, after his fellow actor criticized him for not checking the gun.
Asked if he felt by guilty by ABC journalist George Stephanopoulos, Baldwin replied: ‘No. No. I feel that someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.’
He added: ‘I mean, honest to God, if I felt that I was responsible, I might have killed myself if I thought I was responsible. And I don’t say that lightly.’
In a deeply emotional interview – his first televised recounting of the events of October 21 – Baldwin also defended himself from criticism.
Earlier in the month, George Clooney called the shooting ‘insane’ and ‘infuriating’.
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
Halyna Hutchins was described by Baldwin as ‘fantastic’, as he paid tribute to her vision and professionalism
‘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.’
But Baldwin told Stephanopoulos he was unimpressed with Clooney’s remarks.
‘There were a lot of people who felt it necessary to contribute some comment to the situation, which really didn’t help the situation at all.
‘If your protocol is you checking the gun every time, well, good for you. Good for you.
‘I probably handled weapons as much as any other actor in films with an average career, never shooting or being shot by someone. And in that time, I had a protocol. And it never let me down.’
Asked why he never checked his gun, Baldwin replied: ‘What I was taught by someone years ago was: if I took a gun and I popped a clip out of a gun or I manipulated the chamber of a gun, they would take the gun away from me and redo it.
‘The prop person said, ‘Don’t do that.’ I mean, I was young.
‘And they’d say, ‘One thing you would need to understand is we don’t want the actor to be the last line of defense against a catastrophic breach of safety with the gun. ‘My job,’ they told me, man or woman.
‘My job is to make sure the gun is safe, and that I hand you the gun, and I declare the gun safe. The crew’s not relying on you to say that it’s safe. They’re relying on me to say that it’s safe.’
‘When that person who was charged with that job handed me the weapon, I trusted them. And I never had a problem, ever.
He said he trusted others on set to do their job.
Among those were Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer, and Dave Halls, the assistant director.
‘One person has that responsibility to maintain the gun,’ Baldwin said.
Baldwin, 63, also 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, he thought she might have fainted.
‘She goes down. I thought to myself, ‘Did she faint?” Baldwin said.
‘The notion that there was a live round in that gun did not dawn on me till probably 45 minutes to an hour later.’
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’m just showing. I go, ‘How ’bout that? Does that work? You see that? Do you see that?’
The film’s rookie armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, pictured above
‘And then she goes, ‘Yeah, that’s good.’
‘I let go of the hammer, bang. The gun goes off. Everyone is horrified. They’re shocked. It’s loud. They don’t have their earplugs in.
‘No one was – the gun was supposed to be empty. I was told I was handed an empty gun.
‘If they were cosmetic rounds, nothing with a charge at all, a flash round, nothing.
‘She goes down, I thought to myself, ‘Did she faint?’
‘The notion that there was a live round in that gun did not dawn on me ’till probably 45 minutes to an hour later.’
He added: ‘Well, she’s laying there and I go, ‘Did she hit by wadding? Was there a blank?’
‘Sometimes those blank rounds have a wadding inside that packs, it’s like a cloth that packs the gunpowder in. Sometimes wadding comes out, it can hit people, and it could feel like a little bit of a poke.
‘But no one could understand. ‘Did she have a heart attack?’
‘Because remember the idea that someone put a live bullet in the gun was not even in reality.
Baldwin said: ‘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.
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
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
He said he stood over her for ‘about 60 seconds’ and was then ushered out.
Was she conscious, Stephanopoulos asked?
‘My recollection is yes,’ said Baldwin.
He said ‘no one had any idea’ there was live ammunition used until a police officer showed a photo of the shrapnel 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.
‘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.’
Halyna Hutchins is seen with head electrician on the Rust movie set, Serge Svetnoy
Halls, an experienced assistant director, is pictured on the set of Rust, outside Santa Fe in New Mexico
Hutchins, born in Ukraine, was fondly remembered by those who worked with her on the set of Rust
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.’
‘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.
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
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.
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 – although he then added that he would be filming a new movie in January.
‘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, Stephanopoulos 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.’
Hours before the interview aired, Baldwin was seen with his wife Hilaria in New York City, where they have a home.
The pair were seen grabbing coffee at the Madman Espresso in the West Village, a favorite haunt for the couple.
Baldwin kept a sullen look, dressed in all black, while Hilaria wore electric metallic leggings and a golden-colored Moncler vest priced at $1,900.
The Baldwins had also been spotted earlier in the day taking a stroll with their infants in the Manhattan streets.
After the coffee break, Baldwin carried suitcases and packed them into his SUV before going home.
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin were spotted grabbing coffee near their New York City apartment just hours before the actors interview with ABC was set to air
The pair can often be seen grabbing coffee at the Madman Espresso. They’re pictured waiting for their order
Baldwin kept a sullen look after crying over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in the pre-recorded interview
The actor was dressed in all black on Thursday and seen carrying around luggage outside the coffee shop
Hilaria was dressed in metallic leggings, high heel boots and a golden-colored vest
Hilaria cut a striking figure, beside her husband’s pitch-black outfit, as they headed towards their car
Baldwin packed his suitcases inside his SUV
The dramatic 90-minute interview aired on Thursday at 8pm on ABC, and then later on Hulu
Alec Baldwin lights up as he smiles at one of his kids while pushing strollers with Hilaria
Hilaria Baldwin is glued to her phone as the couple walk their children near their Greenwich Village home
Hilaria put on a fashion display more fitting for a catwalk than a sidewalk in high heels, metallic leggings and pricey vest
Hilaria Baldwin melts for her baby as they wait to cross the street
The couple enjoyed a stroll with two of their six kids during an unseasonably warm December day
