Alec Baldwin’s going on the defensive, with the actor now filing a lawsuit against several members of the Rust crew. Baldwin recently settled a civil suit with the family of the movie’s DP, Halyna Hutchins, who was infamously shot and killed on the Rust set when a “cold” Colt.45 revolver the actor was handling went off. Since then, Baldwin’s career has been in the doldrums, with him stating that he’s been fired from multiple projects since the incident, and now he’s accusing several crew members of wrongdoing on the shoot.
According to TMZ, Baldwin’s suit puts the blame for the shooting at the hands of Chief Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, Dave Halls (the assistant director), Sarah Zachry (the prop master) and gun supplier Seth Kenney. The lawsuit states, “Gutierrez-Reed failed to check the bullets or the gun carefully, Halls failed to check the gun carefully and yet announced the gun was safe before handing it to Baldwin, and Zachry failed to disclose that Gutierrez-Reed had been acting recklessly off set and was a safety risk to those around her.”
According to Deadline, the lawsuit goes on to state that Baldwin has lost numerous jobs due to the incident, with him being viewed as responsible for the accident by many. The lawsuit states, “more than anyone else on that set, Baldwin has been wrongfully viewed as the perpetrator of this tragedy.”
Whether or not this tactic will backfire remains to be seen. Still, it should be remembered that many lawsuits are flying around relating to the Rust shooting, including one from script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, which Baldwin recently failed to get himself removed from. Criminal charges could also be filed at some point. Nevertheless, Rust is set to resume production sometime in 2023, with the full blessing of the Halyna Hutchins estate.
Would you ever watch Rust considering what happened on-set? Let us know in the comments.