Baldwin ‘wanted his real gun’ on Rust film set
Messages from the phones of crew members conflict with the actor’s ‘safety conscious’ statement
ALEC BALDWIN “always wanted his real gun” on set, a trove of evidence from an investigation into a deadly shooting during filming has revealed.
Text messages released on Monday said the actor “never liked anything fake like guns and even the rubber knife” during the filming of Rust.
“He always wanted the real knife, but eventually I gave him the rubber without him knowing. He always wanted his real gun,” Sarah Zachry, the prop master, wrote to another crew member three days after the fatal shooting.
Mr Baldwin’s gun mistakenly fired on the film set, killing Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer, and injuring Joel Souza, the director, on Oct 21 2021.
The actor told police afterwards that there were no safety issues on set as the crew had done “everything in the right way”, according to the newly released evidence.
He added that the team were “very safety conscious” and that “safety with weapons is primary”.
Yet Mr Baldwin’s statement appears to conflicts with a scathing investigation by state occupational safety regulators, who last week hit his film company with the maximum fine for its safety violations.
Text messages and emails taken from the phones of crew members, showing discussions of safety concerns before the shooting, were also made public.
Ms Zachry referred to two accidental firearms discharges: one involving a stunt man and the other of her aiming a gun near her feet.
Lane Luper, a camera crew member, sent an email to production leaders saying that proceedings are “often played very fast and loose” during scenes of gunfights and attached to it was body camera footage capturing the moment Ms Hutchins, 42, fought for her life.
Medical officials can be heard shouting “Halyna, stay with us”, as Ms Hutchins lay unresponsive on the ground.
Mr Souza was screaming out and writhing in pain.
After the shooting, Mr Baldwin was filmed crying and saying: “You have no
‘His index finger may have still had enough pressure on the trigger for him to depress it’
idea how unbelievable this is and how strange this is ... I take the gun out, as it clears – I turn and cock the gun and the gun goes off.
“It’s supposed to be a cold gun.”
In a phone call with Alexandria Hancock, an investigator, Mr Baldwin explained that he pulled the gun’s hammer three-quarters of the way back before releasing it, at which point it discharged.
Detective Hancock said that she attempted to explain to him at the time that if his “finger was on the trigger, and if he was pulling the hammer back with his thumb, his index finger may have still had enough pressure on the trigger for him to depress it”.
Mr Baldwin had told ABC News that the gun went off without him pulling the trigger.
The actor said that he trusted Hannah Gutierrez-reed, the set armourer, to hand him a “cold”, or unloaded, weapon, adding that she asked him if he wanted to check.
“We never had a problem, so I said: ‘No, I’m good,’” Mr Baldwin said.
Ms Gutierrez-reed, 24, denied bring
‘Never shoot live ammo out of movie guns ... it always ends in tears’
ing live ammunition on to the set of Rust. Previous messages sent during an earlier project speak to her apparent willingness to use them.
While working on the film The Old Way, she sent Seth Kenney, the weapons provider, messages asking if she could “shoot hot rounds out of the trap door”, according to the evidence. “Wtf is a hot round?” Mr Kenney responded, to which Ms Gutierrezreed said: “Like a pretty big load of actual ammunition.”
Mr Kenney advised her to “never shoot live ammo out of TV or movie guns, and to only use blanks”, saying: “It’s a serious mistake, always ends in tears.” “Good to know, I’m still gonna shoot mine tho,” Ms Gutierrez-reed replied.
The investigation is ongoing as it awaits evidence. Last week, the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau said the filmmakers must pay the maximum $136,793 (£108,062) fine due to safety violations. The producers say they will dispute the investigation.