Baldwin denies responsibility for deadly film set shooting
Actor says in TV interview that he was aiming gun where he was told to, only partially cocked weapon when asked but let go of hammer and firearm went off
Rust actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin provided his perspectives on the the on-set shooting during an emotional interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive special Thursday evening.
Baldwin was holding the F.Lli Pietta long Colt revolver that might have accidentally discharged on a set near Santa Fe, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
During his nearly hourlong account of the events of Oct. 21, he shared new details regarding the set’s production and the shooting, and he suggested he might leave the film industry.
Foremost, Baldwin said he didn’t pull the trigger.
“I’m handed a gun and someone presented it and said, ‘This is a cold gun,’ ” he told Stephanopoulos.
Baldwin said they were rehearsing a scene in which he would crossdraw his weapon. Hutchins was instructing Baldwin where to point the gun, the actor said.
“I’m holding the gun where she told me to hold it, which ended up being aimed right below her armpit [which] was what I was told,” Baldwin said.
The gun was not meant to be fired in that scene, he said, adding that Hutchins instructed him to cock back the hammer.
Baldwin said he did not cock the hammer fully back. He emphasized that Hutchins was instructing him where to point the gun, and that he would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger.
“I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun went off.”
At first, he thought maybe Hutchins had fainted, he said. Others on set guessed she might have had a heart attack.
“The idea that someone put a live bullet in the gun was not even in reality,” Baldwin said.
He wouldn’t learn until the end of his first interview with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office a few hours later that Souza and Hutchins had been hit by a .45-caliber bullet, and Hutchins had died of her injuries.
Later in the interview, Baldwin said he hopes sheriff’s investigators can find the answer to a key question: How did numerous live rounds end up on set?
Juan Ríos, spokesman for the sheriff ’s office, would not discuss details of what Baldwin told investigators and whether what he said in the interview matched his initial statements. He said the department considers Baldwin’s question an integral part of the investigation.
“That is the question,” Ríos said. “How did live rounds end up there? Why did they need them?”
When asked about a theory posited by set armorer Hannah Gutierrez’s attorney Jason Bowles that the set might have been sabotaged, Baldwin said he disagreed.
“When he made those claims, I thought, ‘That’s a big swing,’ ” he said.
Bowles could not be reached for comment.
Prior to the shooting, Baldwin said the reports of a set full of strife were inaccurate.
He was never notified of any serious safety issues on set, Baldwin said. There had been two accidental discharges earlier, he said, but those involved blank rounds — ammunition that has primer and powder, but no projectiles.
He also said he received a 90-minute safety training session from Gutierrez on Oct. 12 and had no red flags about her ability to perform as set armorer.
“I assumed because she was there and she was hired, that she was up for the job,” he said.
Baldwin also told his interviewer that his co-producer role on Rust primarily involved casting and scripting, not budgeting.
Throughout the interview, Baldwin became emotional as he recounted Hutchins.
“She was someone who was loved by everyone who worked with and liked by everyone who worked with and admired by everybody who worked with her,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin’s recounting of the events is consistent with what assistant director David Halls told his attorney, Lisa Torraco.
“He honestly believes it was a misfire, if that’s the right term,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
Torraco could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
Torraco said Wednesday that Halls also believed that the accidental discharges on set prior to the shooting only involved blank rounds.
William Waggoner, attorney for prop master Sarah Zachry, who also helped prepare other guns for the film, said in an interview after the special aired that Baldwin’s statements were not surprising.
“It was the consistent with the facts we’ve known so far,” he said. “I wouldn’t agree with every single thing he has come up with, but for the most part I thought it was courageous of him to do this now, and I think he made some really solid points.”
Rust had been Baldwin’s first film with Hutchins, but he said she had a “spark” and professionalism to her that made her amazing to work with.
While emphasizing he was not the victim, Baldwin told Stephanopoulos he will never work on a film with guns again and might never work in the movie industry again.
His days since the incident have been filled with sleepless nights and nightmares of guns going off, Baldwin said.
He also acknowledged it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to him.
“I feel that, that, that someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” Baldwin said. “I mean honestly, if I felt that I was responsible, I might’ve killed myself … and I don’t say that lightly.”