Alec Baldwin’s movie Rust ‘will NEVER be finished’, crew member predicts, after star accidentally shot and killed cinematographer with prop gun
- A crew member said western film Rust 'will never be finished' after star Alec Baldwin shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in an freak accident
- 'None of us expect this movie to be finished. Ever. We know this is the end of the road for Rust sadly,' the crew member said after the October 21 tragedy
- The source told The Sun that the film couldn't go on without director Joel Souza, 48, who is still recovering from his injuries after he, too, was shot
- 'Not only is our director still fighting for his life... there will be lawsuits I’m sure and a lot of other factors that will prevent this movie from ever being finished'
- If 'by a miracle' the film is ever picked up again, the source said, it will 'absolutely be dedicated to Halyna'
Alec Baldwin's western Rust 'will never be finished', a crew member has predicted, after the A-list star accidentally shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on set.
'None of us expect this movie to be finished. Ever,' the unnamed worker told The Sun after the tragedy on Thursday. 'We know this is the end of the road for Rust sadly.'
'Maybe way down the line it will get picked up again but right now, there’s no way it’s going to continue getting made. If by a miracle it ever is though, the movie will absolutely be dedicated to Halyna.'
The source told The Sun that the film couldn't go on without director Joel Souza, 48, who is still recovering from his injuries after he, too, was shot.
'Not only is our director still [recovering], but there will be lawsuits I’m sure and a lot of other factors that will prevent this movie from ever being finished.'
Although Alec Baldwin (pictured), who fired the fatal shot, will likely be named in upcoming lawsuits, whoever loaded the gun will be the most likely to face criminal charges
Rust was being made on a $7 million budget - tiny, by Hollywood standards, where a superhero movie can cost upwards of $300 million.
The production had been hit by walkouts amid staff mistreatment, and will now forever be associated with the tragic killing of a crew member on set, potentially putting people off going to see it even if it were completed.
Baldwin is the star of the movie, with the horrific tragedy that has swept the set likely making it difficult for anyone to watch his character on-screen without thinking of what happened should the movie miraculously make it to theaters.
Some experts have predicted that the movie's insurers may refuse to pay out if it emerges that safety protocols weren't followed properly, potentially ruining its financial backers.
The Crow, the 1993 movie which saw star Brandon Lee shot dead while filming, was completed and went on to become a financial success.
But Lee had completed almost all his scenes before filming, and wasn't shot and killed by the star of the movie.
Earlier this week, experts told DailyMail.com that guns containing live ammunition are never used in filming, and it is uncertain why a loaded gun was on the set at all. Although Alec Baldwin, who fired the fatal shot, will likely be named in upcoming lawsuits, whoever loaded the gun will be the most likely to face criminal charges.
On Saturday, it was revealed by TMZ that Colt pistol in question had previously been used recreationally for target practice by crew members. Sources claim that some of the set's crew would go off for target practice using real bullets, and some believe that a live round from those sessions found its way into the barrel of the gun used on set.
Another source told TMZ that live ammo and blanks were being stored in the same area on set, offering another possible explanation as to how a bullet was fired from Baldwin's Colt.
Alec Baldwin was wielding a vintage Colt pistol when it accidentally went off. It is not known who loaded the weapon and why it went off as a replacement crew was brought in the day of the incident (The gun pictured above is a vintage Colt pistol manufactured between 1873-92. While the exact model of the gun used is unknown, Rust is set in the 1880s)
Filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Halyna Hutchins (pictured) as she filmed him, and injuring Souza, who stood behind her.
A search warrant released Friday said that Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, had laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the Colt from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds.
'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, the warrant said.
Seconds later, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him, and injuring Souza, who stood behind her.
Complaints against Dave Halls were made by prop maker and pyrotechnician Maggie Goll after working on him on a previous production with him on Hulu in 2019 called Into the Dark.
In Goll's statement to CNN, she claimed that Halls never addressed weapon safety protocols in production meetings or when a firearm was to be used on the set.
Typically, any weapon being used on a set - real or fake - must be 'introduced' to the cast and the crew so that they are aware of its presence, and can follow other safety protocols. Halls, Goll said, failed to follow these safety guidelines.
'The only reason the crew was made aware of a weapon's presence was because the assistant prop master demanded Dave acknowledge and announce the situation each day,' Goll said in the statement.
A search warrant released Friday said first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds
She also added that the prop master would reprimand Halls for not acknowledging the protocol.
Goll also said that she was told to 'watch out' for him by another crew member as Halls apparently tended to get touchy with them. His on-set behavior may have cost Hutchins' life.
Two production sources who previously worked with Gutierrez-Reed said this was not the first time she was involved in an incident on a movie set.
The two sources told The Daily Beast that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had allegedly given an 11-year-old actress a gun without checking it properly while on the set of the Nicholas Cage film, The Old Way.
'There were a couple times she was loading the blanks and doing it in a fashion that we thought was unsafe,' one of the sources said.
'She was a bit careless with the guns, waving it around every now and again.'
Sources on the Rust set have said the fatal incident that killed Hutchins, 42, and injured Souza, 48, was a result of production failings from top to bottom.
They added that assistant director Halls, who handed the gun to Baldwin and told him it was safe, should have checked the weapon.
'He's supposed to be our last line of defense and he failed us,' one of the sources on set said. 'He's the last person that's supposed to look at that firearm.'
A Rust production source told The Daily Beast that there were at least two previous incidents of guns being accidentally discharged by other crewmember on set before Thursday's tragic incident.
The source described Gutierrez-Reed as 'inexperienced and green.'
Gutierrez-Reed had previously admitted she wasn't sure she was ready for the job on The Old Way in an interview before filming started.
'I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,' Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said in a podcast interview last month after leading the firearms department for The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage - her first time as head armorer.
She also admitted in the podcast interview she found loading blanks into a gun 'the scariest' thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.
It comes as the film crew revealed they walked off set hours before the fatal accident over safety fears after firearms were accidentally discharged three times - including once by Baldwin's stunt double who had been told the gun was not loaded, and twice in a closed cabin.
Neither Halls nor Gutierrez-Reed immediately returned messages from DailyMail.com late on Friday. Neither has been charged or named as a criminal suspect in the case, though a police investigation is ongoing.
The gun that fired the fatal shot was a vintage-style Colt revolver, DailyMail.com has exclusively learned.
After the shooting, the armorer took possession of the gun and a spent casing, which were turned over to police, along with other prop guns and ammunition used on the set.
Baldwin also changed out of the Western costume he was wearing, which was stained with blood, and turned it over to police.
The warrant does not reveal the model or caliber of the prop gun that fired the fatal bullet, but the film is set in the Old West of the 1880s and DailyMail.com has learned it was a Colt.
The warrant was obtained Friday so that investigators could document the scene at the ranch where the shooting took place.
Unionized workers had walked off the set hours before the fatal shooting, after they complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon.
A yet-unnamed prop master who oversaw the gun used in the fatal shooting was a non-union worker who was 'just brought in' to replace the workers who left over safety concerns, a source involved in the movie told the New York Post.
It's unclear whether Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, had recently joined the production, or was one of the crew members who stayed behind after the walk-off.
However, a link in her Instagram bio points to an article about Rust from May, suggesting she had been attached to the production for some time.
Unionized employees had been complaining about the fact they had to stay overnight in Albuquerque - an hour's drive from the set - and not Sante Fe because production wouldn't pay for their hotels, according to sources cited by The Los Angeles Times and multiple social media posts by film and TV insiders.
When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals.
It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin.
Deadline also cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins.
'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops – a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.
Rust Production LLC did not respond to repeated requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Friday about the incident, but members of the union that represents many of the crew who were involved in the production said they had expressed fears about on-set safety.
Baldwin first addressed the tragedy on Twitter Friday: '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. 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.'
He then tweeted a Variety article titled Alec Baldwin Was Told Prop Gun Was Safe Before Fatal Shooting, Affidavit Says.
He was pictured doubled over in grief on Thursday after speaking to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department immediately following the shooting.
Hutchins' husband shared a touching tribute to his wife on Twitter on Friday. Matthew Hutchins tweeted a photo of his wife and their 9-year-old son Andros on Friday captioned: 'Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words.
'Our loss is enormous, and we ask that the media please respect my family’s privacy as we process our grief. We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life.'
His Facebook profile picture is a photo of the couple who had been married for 16 years. His bio now reads: 'We miss you, Halyna.'
Hutchins' father, Anatoly Androsovych, laid the blame for the killing with the films armory team on Sunday.
'We still can't believe Halyna is dead and her mother is going out of her mind with grief,' Anatoly told the Sun on Sunday.
'But I don't hold Alec Baldwin responsible — it is the responsibility of the props people who handle the guns.'
'[Halyna's son] has been very badly affected — he is lost without his mother.'
Anatoly is now fighting to organise visas to grant his wife Olga and daughter Svetlana entry to the US to support Halyna's husband Matthew and son Andros, who at just 9 years old is left without his mother.
A private memorial was held in Santa Fe last night with Matthew, Andros, and Baldwin in attendance, according to ShowBiz411. It was reported that grief counselors were present at the service.
The grieving husband told DailyMail.com on Friday morning that he had spoken with the actor. 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive,' he said.
Zak Knight, a pyrotechnic and special effects engineer who is a member of Local 44, told DailyMail.com on Friday: 'There should have never been live rounds on a movie set, that's number one.'
'Number two is every single person on a movie set has a right to inspect a weapon before it's fired. And number three is, there is no reason to ever put a person in front of a weapon that's firing.
'Anytime you see a movie where the barrel is pointed down the camera lens, there should not be an operator behind it. It's obvious that the considerations of this resulted in that gun being pointed directly at two people.
'We would have additionally had a barrier between them. A large number of people failed to do our protocols... every accident is a cascade of events,' he said.
Whatever happened in the moments leading up to her death, Knight said it was caused by a 'cascade of failures' by multiple people. 'We have a hard and fast rule that no live ammunition ever goes into a prop truck or set at any time. We just don't do it.
Questions to ponder:
Why WAS a gun on Alec Baldwin movie set loaded with live ammo?
Mystery over events that led to actor killing cinematographer
The deadly chain of events on set that led to Alec Baldwin being handed a gun with live ammunition and accidentally shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins have become clearer after it emerged last night the actor fired a live round, believing it to be a blank.
Experts yesterday said that safety on set is usually extremely tight with live bullets never used in filming and it remains unclear why a firearm loaded with live ammunition was on the Rust set at all.
Baldwin was handed a gun loaded with live ammunition
First assistant director Dave Halls picked up one of the firearms - a vintage-style Colt revolver laid out by armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed - unaware it was loaded with live bullets.
'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, a search warrant released on Friday said.
Baldwin, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, then fired a live round towards the camera, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him.
Hutchins was airlifted to the hospital but was pronounced dead. Souza was taken to the hospital by ambulance but was released on Thursday evening.
Why was live ammunition used on set in the first place?
Live ammunition is never usually used on film sets and Baldwin's shooting and killing of a cinematographer a 'total mystery', a Hollywood armorer has said.
Mike Tristan, 60, who has provided guns for movie sets for over 30 years, said the injuries sustained by Hutchins should not have been possible.
Tristan, who has worked with Baldwin before, said any professional armorer would have checked the weapon, which he believes was a Western, before handing it to the 63-year-old.
'There should have been blanks in the gun, the on-set armorer's job is to check that before handing the weapon over,' Tristan told Dailymail.com.
'They then make sure that the actor stands on a mark and never points the gun at the crew or cast, you give them an aim to point at and the editing makes it seem like they were pointing at their co-actor.
'That's why everyone in the industry is very confused, how this happened is a total mystery at the moment.'
Union members had walked off set hours earlier over safety concerns
Unionized members walked off set on Wednesday, hours before the tragedy, complaining of safety concerns.
They complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon.
Deadline cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins.
'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops – a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.
Baldwin's stunt double also accidentally fired two rounds after being told the firearm was 'cold'.
When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals.
It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin.