Proceeding. Alec Baldwin filed a lawsuit a year after the Rust incident. According to court documents, Baldwin seeks to “clear his name” after the accidental death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of his movie.
People obtained the legal court documents of a cross-complaint filed by the 30 Rock actor. The lawsuit reads, “More than anyone else on that set, Baldwin has been wrongfully viewed as the perpetrator of this tragedy.” The cross-complaint named on-set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, first AD Dave Halls, property master Sarah Zachry, and weapons supplier Seth Kenney, accusing them of negligence. “Baldwin has also lost numerous job opportunities and associated income,” the lawsuit reads. “For example, he’s been fired from multiple jobs expressly because of the incident on Rust and has been passed over for other opportunities, which is a direct result of the negligence of Cross-Defendants Gutierrez-Reed, Halls, Kenney, PDQ, and Zachry.”
The Rust shooting occurred on October 21, 2021, when Baldwin had misfired a prop gun that killed Hutchins and injured the movie’s director, Joel Souza, on the set of Rust, at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico. In a statement after the accident, Baldwin expressed his “shock and sadness” over Hutchins’ death, and confirmed that he’s been “fully cooperating” with the police on how the misfire occurred. “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” he tweeted at the time. “I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”
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Baldwin’s lawyers Luke Nikas and Robert M. Schwartz wrote in the filing, that the perpetrators “owed a duty to those on set, including Baldwin, to keep the set safe. Everyone on set, including Baldwin, expected and trusted them to do so.” The continued, “This tragedy occurred on a movie set — not a gun range, not a battlefield, not a location where even a remote possibility should exist that a gun would contain live ammunition. It occurred under the supervision of a professional armorer, Gutierrez-Reed, and the First Assistant Director, Halls, who were hired to protect the actors and crew on set. This tragedy happened because live bullets were delivered to the set and loaded into the gun, Gutierrez-Reed failed to check the bullets or the gun carefully, Halls failed to check the gun carefully and yet announced the gun was safe before handing it to Baldwin, and Zachry failed to disclose that Gutierrez-Reed had been acting recklessly off set and was a safety risk to those around her,” the filing alleged.
On October 5, 2022, Baldwin settled with Halyna Hutchins’ estate for an agreement to continue filming Rust in January 2023. “We are pleased to announce today the settlement of the civil case filed on behalf of the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins,” Baldwin posted on his Instagram. “Throughout this difficult process, everyone has maintained the specific desire to do what is best for Halyna’s son. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the resolution of this tragic and painful situation.” Halyna’s widow Matthew Hutchins will be brought to executive produce the film and will receive a portion of the film’s earnings. “I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin),” Hutchins said in a statement. “All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.”