Don’t blame me
‘I might have killed myself’ if movie death was my fault, says Alec
Alec Baldwin said he doesn’t feel guilt over the shooting on the “Rust” movie set that killed Halyna Hutchins in October.
“If I felt I was responsible, I might have killed myself,” Baldwin told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview aired Thursday night. “And I don’t say that lightly.”
In pre-released clips of the interview, Baldwin said he didn’t pull the trigger of the gun that fired a live round, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza on Oct. 21 on Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.
Assistant director David Halls, the man who handed Baldwin the gun and was standing near him when the tragedy happened, backed that claim, according to Stephanopoulos.
“I let go of the hammer of the
gun, and the gun goes off,” said Baldwin, describing the fatal moment. “I would never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger.”
In the full interview, Baldwin broke down the mechanics of the shooting. He demonstrated how he repeatedly drew the gun and held it in different positions so Hutchins could tell him which spot would be best for the camera.
The veteran actor, 63, refused to pin the blame on anyone else during the interview, instead deferring to the criminal investigation. He added that he does not expect to be charged with a crime.
Baldwin defended Halls and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded the gun and gave it to Halls before Halls passed it to Baldwin, who was also credited as a producer on the film. Baldwin said whoever brought live ammo onto the set was to blame.
“Someone is responsible for
what happened,” he said. “And I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.”
Baldwin said he never questioned Gutierrez-Reed’s capability, though it was only her second film as the main armorer. He trusted her to the point that he didn’t even consider that a live bullet could have been in the gun until 45 minutes after Hutchins was shot, he told Stephanopoulos.
“The gun was supposed to be empty. I was told I was handed an empty gun,” Baldwin said. “[Hutchins] goes down, I thought to myself: Did she faint?”
Baldwin said he learned it was a real bullet when police showed him a picture of the round that had been pulled from Souza’s shoulder.
The source of the bullet remains unclear. An assistant prop master told police that ammunition for the film came from three
sources: Gutierrez-Reed, a man named Sean Kenney and a man identified only as “Billy Ray.”
Gutierrez-Reed’s father, veteran prop man Thell Reed, suggested to police that Kenney took the live rounds to the “Rust” set, but Kenney denied that in his own interview with ABC News, a portion of which aired Thursday night. Gutierrez-Reed has said Kenney provided most of the ammo, and police searched his business.
Several crew members walked off the set on the day of the deadly shooting, and producers of the film, including Baldwin, had been criticized for skimping on accommodations and hiring replacements.
Baldwin told Stephanopoulos he had no influence on that, saying his only production involved working on the cast and the script. He didn’t hire the crew and first met Hutchins on Oct. 11.
Baldwin also addressed claims by Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers, who had theorized that the set was sabotaged and someone intentionally put a live bullet in the gun. Baldwin said he found that unlikely; investigators have also dismissed the sabotage theory.
He went on to speak existentially about his own career, saying he “couldn’t give a [expletive]” about it and would probably never do another film that included a gun. He said he’s had nightmares for weeks related to the tragedy.
Baldwin has also been called out for not checking the gun himself, but he said he was told early in his career by prop experts that actors should not be the last line of defense.
“The crew’s not relying on [the actor] to say it’s safe,” Baldwin said. “The actor’s responsibility is to do what the prop armorer tells them to do.”