Over three years since cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was tragically killed on the set of Alec Baldwin’s film
Rust
The film has arrived at theaters, debuting softly on Friday with the sorrow surrounding its production still lingering overhead.
During rehearsals on the New Mexico set in 2021, actor-producer Baldwin aimed what was supposed to be a prop firearm at Hutchins when it unexpectedly discharged a real bullet, resulting in Hutchins’ death and injuring director Joel Souza.
The startling incident brought filming to an abrupt stop and sparked a comprehensive inquiry lasting twelve months.
However, the movie is now showing in theaters as part of a restricted theatrical run, placing it alongside a series of films that were released even after facing unfortunate incidents during production, including
The Crow
and
Twilight Zone: The Movie.
The armourer for
Rust
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed received an 18-month sentence in prison for involuntary manslaughter. Similarly, Baldwin faced the same charges; however, they were dropped when the prosecution was alleged to have withheld evidence improperly. As for Dave Halls, who served as the assistant director on set,
Rust
, entered a plea of no contest to negligent use of a firearm after failing to ensure the weapon was free from live ammunition before giving it to Baldwin.
The future of the movie was uncertain until, roughly 18 months after filming began, production restarted. At this point, Souze came back to finish directing, and Bianca Cline stepped in to handle the leftover cinematography work.
Souza mentioned that he chose to complete the movie as a tribute to Hutchins’s efforts and to support her family. While the specific details of the settlement between her family and the production team are confidential, an official statement from the film indicated that her spouse, Matthew, along with their child, Andros, will receive earnings from the movie’s proceeds. The initial producers, however, will not see financial gains from this release.
Souza stated, “The family desired for it to be finished.”
the Guardian
Earlier this week, he added that although he was initially “put off by the notion of returning… I wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of someone else taking my place.”
When questioned about what he would alter if given the chance, his response was, “I regret ever writing that darn film.”
Rust
It had its global debut at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland in November.
Rachel Mason, a colleague of Hutchins who produced a documentary about her passing titled
Final Chapter: Rust and the Tale of Halyna
, shared an excerpt from the Hulu documentary
on Instagram
on Thursday to celebrate the theater release of
Rust
.
These are Halyna’s pictures and this is Halyna’s voice.
Rust
Halyna’s movie is currently screening at select theaters,” she penned. “Those who worked alongside her on this piece of art are individuals worthy of empathy.
Other tragic accidents on film
This isn’t the first instance of a movie being finished after a devastating incident occurred during production.
Art Scholl, an experienced pilot and cinematographer, lost his life while working on the production of the 1986 hit film.
Top Gun
While capturing airborne shots for a sequence where the character Goose passes away during a failed mission.
At the 1983 movie’s set
Twilight Zone: The Movie
, Vic Morrow and the two young actors, Renee Shin-Yi Chen who was six years old, and Myca Dinh Le who was seven, died tragically when a low-flying helicopter lost control and crashed onto them.
The tragic incident led to co-director John Landis and four other members of the film’s crew being charged with involuntary manslaughter, despite their lack of criminal liability. This event also resulted in stricter rules regarding on-set safety measures.
A similar reflection can be drawn from the case of Brandon Lee: the 28-year-old actor, offspring of legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, was shooting the concluding moments of the neo-noir thriller when this incident occurred.
The Crow
When another performer fired at him using a prop firearm that hadn’t been properly loaded, Lee passed away several hours afterward.
The leftover scenes were filmed using his stunt double, and the movie was ultimately released in 1994, achieving a global box office revenue of more than $50 million US. Lee’s sister, Shannon Lee,
told CNN in 2023
that the family wished to share his last piece of work, aware of how proud he was of it.
She mentioned that it would have been extremely unjust for him not to be able to share that with everyone.
Reaction to Rust mixed
Set in 1880s Wyoming,
Rust
Follows a teenage boy named Lucas and his distant grandfather, an experienced outcast portrayed by Baldwin.
The finished film doesn’t contain the scene Baldwin was rehearsing when the gun went off, but in a western action film, gunshots and violence are an inevitable refrain throughout the story. The dissonance of assessing a film about a gunslinging outlaw considering the surrounding context is reflected in the hesitant tone of reviews of the film, with many praising the striking visuals of Hutchins’s — and Cline’s — cinematography, while also noting that
Rust
mostly doesn’t manage to stand on its own merits apart from the legacy of Hutchins’s death.
“There isn’t a single moment during
Rust
Jocelyn Noveck from The Associated Press noted that the film causes one to lose sight of the tragedy, and she added that it surpasses viewer expectations in certain areas.
“Like
The Crow
or
Twilight Zone: The Movie
,
Rust
is a movie intrinsically linked to a single fateful day,” says Brian Truitt from USA Today
wrote
.
It remains to be seen whether many viewers will want to watch
Rust
It remains to be seen. However, those who venture to the cinemas will find it hard to overlook the cinematographer’s demise soon.
At the conclusion of the movie, the screen displays “…for Halyna,” along with Hutchins’s name written in Ukrainian. The film’s closing remark quotes the renowned cinematographer who said, “What can we do to improve this?”
