Alec Baldwin Says He Still Hasn’t Seen ‘Rust’: ‘The Film Doesn’t Stand by Itself’

Alec Baldwin revealed he does not want to watch the final cut of Rust, the embattled Western that is finally premiering three years after the accidental on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

In a new interview with Variety, Baldwin spoke about completing Rust amidst various civil and criminal proceedings, while also addressing misconceptions that he’s profiting off of the film. “This is obviously the most difficult thing I’ve ever dealt with in my life,” Baldwin said, adding: “The film doesn’t stand by itself. It’s always going to be overshadowed by this.” 

When asked if he’d seen the movie, which just debuted at a festival in Poland, Baldwin replied: “No, I haven’t seen the final cut. I was sent a rough cut early on, before everything got a little more sticky and difficult. So I haven’t seen the film. But, again, 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.”

Back when the producers of Rust settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Hutchins’ widower, Matt Hutchins, they made him an executive producer as part of the settlement terms. According to Baldwin, Matt also owns the film outright, or at least a significant chunk of it. (“He owns the film,” Baldwin said. “Her husband, I believe, is the sole owner of the film, though I could be wrong.”)

To that end, Baldwin pushed back against “the notion that anybody has profited from the film’s sale and distribution.” He called it “blatantly untrue.” 

Though he did not mention her by name, it was possible Baldwin was responding to comments made recently by Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey. In a statement last week, Solovey said Baldwin had refused to apologize for the accidental shooting death of Hutchins and accused him of seeking to “unjustly profit” from the tragedy. Solovey is part of another wrongful lawsuit against Baldwin and the Rust producers brought by Hutchins’ immediate family that’s still ongoing.
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Back in July, a New Mexico judge dismissed the single involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin over Hutchins’ death after the actor’s lawyers claimed prosecutors and investigators withheld evidence. The decision, upheld in October, ostensibly brought the protracted criminal proceedings against Baldwin to a close, though the special prosecutor handling the case said they planned to appeal. (The case was dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning if the appeal fails, Baldwin can’t be charged again.)

“Beyond the victims themselves, the thing that most pains me is what it did to my wife,” Baldwin said. “My wife has been very, very traumatized 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.”