Alec Baldwin doesn’t want to see ‘Rust’: “This is obviously the most difficult thing I’ve ever dealt with”

"The last two years of this situation have just hammered me, just drained me"

Alec Baldwin has said that he doesn’t want to see Western Rust following the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, saying the fallout of which was “obviously the most difficult thing I’ve ever dealt with in my life”.

In October 2021, a prop gun held by Baldwin fired a live bullet that killed Hutchins and seriously injured director Joel Souza. Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter before a judge dismissed the case on July 12.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who had served as an armourer on the film, had been on trial charged with involuntary manslaughter, to which she pled not guilty. In March, the jury convicted her, but found her not guilty of tampering with evidence. She might, however, be released as a result of the case being dismissed.

Three years on, the film has now been shown at festivals. It premiered at the EnergaCamerimage festival in Toruń, Poland, but Baldwin was not invited. However, he did appear at the Torino Film Festival in his first festival appearance since the tragedy.

Baldwin spoke to Variety at the Torino Film Festival in Italy about the toll the incident took on him and was asked if he had seen the final cut of the film, or whether he would even want to.

“Right now, no. Only because this is obviously the most difficult thing I’ve ever dealt with in my life,” he said. “Beyond the victims themselves, the thing that most pains me is what it did to my wife. My wife has been very, very traumatised from this. There has been a lot of pain. When you are married to somebody and everything was going fairly well and we had seven kids … and the floor falls out. It’s very frightening and very disturbing.

“And we are trying to get the wind in our sails, to get away from this stuff. Because the film doesn’t stand by itself. It’s always going to be overshadowed by this.”

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He added: “The last two years of this situation have just hammered me, just drained me. And I have an obligation like any other man who is a father, or couples of fathers — two men who have children, whatever — we have an obligation to save some of our best for our kids. And that’s been the tough part for me. ”

I hope the film is released, that it comes out. That it makes its money back for its investors. You never want these people who believed in your project to be left high and dry. And I hope the movie is sold, and that he [Matt Hutchins, Halyna’s husband] gets his money. We all made a deal with him and we all want to follow through. But this idea that people — who shall remain nameless — say, ‘You are profiting from this!’ That is absolutely wrong.

Baldwin also revealed that he waived his fee for the film and everything he was meant to receive was give to Hutchins’ husband Matt.

“In order to finish the film — and this is the only thing I can say about it because I have another pending [civil] case — we traveled to Montana. All my doctors told me ‘Don’t go’ — mental health practitioners, cardiologists. I mean, I was very sick afterwards for a while, physically drained and ill. But I went.

“I said to Joel [Souza, “Rust” director], “Are you going to do it? If you think it’s important to do this, I’ll do it. If it’s the only way we can settle the case with [Hutchins’] husband and the estate is to finish the film, let’s do it.” So we go to Montana. We finish … And I waived my fee. I gave them back the fee in the budget. I waived all my backend. I gave everything to her husband. He owns the film. Her husband, I believe, is the sole owner of the film, though I could be wrong. Everything was done with that in mind.”

Last week, Souza said he “understands” if viewers find the film unsettling to watch because of everything that happened.

“You know, it’s a Western and it’s reflective of life in the old West and what we’ve come to expect of Westerns,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. But I understand that it’s now a strange thing for people, and it’ll be interesting to see how people react to that aspect.”