It’s been a year since the tragic on-set accident that led to the death of the director of photography Halyna Hutchins during the shooting of the Alec Baldwin movie Rust. While the heat of the on-set accident seems to have died down in the past months, the actor and producer have stirred the dust again in a last-ditch attempt to clear his name for good.
Reports show the star filed a lawsuit against his Rust crew members, alleging negligence. According to the court documents, Alec named on-set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, property master Sarah Zachry, first AD Dave Halls, and Seth Kenny, the weapons supplier in the suit. He claims the quad had a hand in the accidental shooting and killing of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust in October 2021.
Alec Baldwin Moves To Clear His Name In Fatal Rust Shooting
In his lawsuit, Alec Baldwin alleged that the tragic shooting happened because someone delivered live bullets to the set of Rust. Even at that, they could have forestalled the tragedy if Hannah hadn’t failed to check the bullets and guns carefully. With Hannah failing to do her job as the armorer, Dave Halls could have detected something fishy if he had stopped to check the loaded gun carefully before announcing it was safe and handing it to Alec.
Alec Baldwin also accused Sarah Zachry of defaulting by failing to report beforehand that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had been acting recklessly off-set and could pose a danger to the crew. The actor’s attorney, Luke Nikas, filed the lawsuit on his behalf on Friday, November 11, 2022.
Baldwin’s Career Took A Hard Hit
As mentioned above, the alleged negligence of the parties resulted in the actor accidentally pulling the trigger of a real gun, resulting in the death of Halyna and leaving director Joel Souza severely injured. The on-set shooting shocked the industry, raising questions about safety conditions on movie sets. Alec has been at the center of these concerns, both as the actor to pull the trigger and as a producer on that set. Unsurprisingly, the resulting negative publicity has taken a terrible toll on his career. The suit addressed this negative impact, reading in part:
Alec Baldwin hoped that by filing the suit, he could implicate the Rust crew members in the negligent act that led to the shooting and loss of life. More importantly, he hoped to clear his name. Notably, the 64-year-old has been at the forefront of the Halyna Hutchins shooting, with several reports pegging the on-set accident on him. In October, he settled a wrongful death suit with the victim’s family, while her husband, Matthew Hutchins, assumed the role of executive producer on the film. The Hutchins estate has since affirmed they held no one responsible since they regarded everything that happened as an accident.
