American Western film Rust, premiered at a low-key Polish film festival, three years on from the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
In 2021, Rust’s star Alec Baldwin was accused of the involuntary manslaughter of Mrs Hutchins, after it was alleged that the actor had been in breach of basic gun safety rules in her death.
However, the involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin was dropped earlier this Summer, due to misconduct from the police and prosecutors regarding the withholding of ammunition evidence from the defence.
In a statement afterwards, Baldwin thanked his fans for their “kindness” during this time.
“There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now”, the actor wrote on Instagram. “To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family”.
Back in April, Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was jailed for 18 months in prison in relation to Mrs Hutchins’ shooting.
Ms Gutierrez-Reed was also found guilty the previous month, after mistakenly loading a live round into a revolver, causing the death of Mrs Hutchins in October 2021.
More on this from Nova here.
“It wasn’t an easy decision”
Speaking about the movie, director Joel Souza who was injured in the shooting in 2021, said it was a relief to complete filming and bring it to audiences.
He said that he hopes the movie will be a tribute to Halyna Hutchins and her work on the set.
He said: “I’m excited that people will get to see Halyna’s work, you know, I hope they appreciate her work… It wasn’t an easy decision by any means, but it became important to me and important to her husband that people see her final work”.
Mr Souza also said that he hopes the release of Rust will help people learn more about Halyna Hutchins, than simply the tragic events of three years ago.
“That’s one of the nice things about movies. You could sort of see the world the way the people who made it see it,” he said. “The cinematography is stunning and I hope people can appreciate that”.
“appreciate her work”
Despite this, Mr Souza did also admit that it would be impossible to watch the movie without thinking of Mrs Hutchins’ death.
“I think that’s how people even know about the movie,” he said.
Mr Souza also added: “But, you know, by the same token… I would hope that for no matter what reasons people come to it – whether it’s out of curiosity, whether they like Westerns, for whatever reason – I hope they can at least take something from it or they can appreciate her work in it”.
“a wreck”
Joel Souza also revealed that returning to filming after Mrs Hutchins’ death was very difficult for so many people.
“I was a wreck and I’m not generally a wreck on set. But emotionally, I was just all over the place and the crew really carried me through that,” he said.
“I just kept thinking, how am I getting through these days? And I realise how I got through those days. It’s because the crew carried me through them… they were able to keep me focused on the task at hand. And always remember Halyna. Remember Halyna, remember Halyna. That’s the North Star”.
He also stated that the Camerimage film festival was the ideal place to honour Mrs Hutchins.
“This festival meant a great deal to her, as it does all cinematographers. I think preserving her work, trying to preserve every last frame of it that we could, and to show it to people and to let them understand how talented she was, I think is a fitting honour for her”.
On whether or not he thought justice had been served in the court cases, Joel Souza issued this reply.
“I just can’t let that kind of thing or that kind of thinking take up space in me. I’ve just got to move forward. The only way forward is forward. That’s it”.
