By Ashley Young-
Alec Baldwin was misinformed that a prop gun he was handed to practice a scene was unloaded, court documents reveal.
He pointed the gun “towards the camera lens” when it accidentally went off, killing his director of photography.
Souza was standing behind Hutchins when they were both hit, according to the affidavit.
“Joel stated that they had Alec sitting in a pew in a church building setting, and he was practicing a cross draw,” it said.
“Joel said he was looking over the shoulder of [Hutchins], when he heard what sounded like a whip and then loud pop.”
The director, Joel Souza, said he heard what “sounded like a whip and then a loud pop”. He said he saw the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins clutch her midriff and stumble backwards. Souza noticed that he himself was bleeding from the right shoulder.
Baldwin was sitting on a wooden church pew on the set and trying out a scene in which he would “cross-draw” a revolver from its holster. Hutchins and Souza were checking the camera angle.
The film’s armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, checked prop weapons, and the assistant director, Dave Halls, rechecked them and handed them to the actors, Souza said. It was Halls who gave Baldwin the gun, police said.
Five crew members had walked out last Thursday, hours before the fatal shooting at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico, due to disatisfaction with pay and conditions, court documents reveal.
Halls was the subject of an internal complaint on a previous movie, it emerged over the weekend. Maggie Goll, a prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician, said she raised concerns about Hall’s conduct on set with the executive producers of Hulu’s Into the Dark TV series in 2019. He has yet to comment.
Candles are placed around a photo of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a vigil held in her honour in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday.
Rust assistant director who gave Alec Baldwin gun ‘was subject of 2019 safety complaint’
“This situation is not about Dave Halls … It’s in no way one person’s fault,” Goll said, adding that there were larger issues about the wellbeing of crew that had to be addressed. “It’s a bigger conversation about safety on set and what we are trying to achieve with that culture,” she added..
The Santa Fe sheriff’s county office has seized all relevant evidence including the gun, camera memory cards and bone fragments, as well as taking statements from cast and crew.
In an affidavit, the camera operator Reid Russell suggested Baldwin was not to blame for the incident. He described the actor as very careful and said on a previous occasion Baldwin had made sure a child actor was not near him when a gun was being discharged.
Russell said the crew walkout left him with extra work to do, with only one camera available to shoot. It had to be moved because the light had shifted and there was a shadow, he said. He added that he stepped outside for five minutes and did not know if the gun was checked before it reached Baldwin.
Russell told investigators that after the gun went off he “remembered Joel having blood on his person”. He added: “Ms Hutchins [was] speaking and saying she couldn’t feel her legs.”
Hutchins was pronounced dead after being flown by helicopter to the University of New Mexico hospital. Souza was treated at Christus St Vincent regional medical centre, where he was brought by ambulance.
A detective, Joel Cano, interviewed Souza on Friday afternoon. Souza told him “there should never be live rounds whatsoever, near or around the scene”, Cano wrote in an affidavit, according to the New York Times. Souza also said “everyone was getting along” and there were “no altercations”, the statement added.
The film’s chief electrician, Serge Svetnoy, blamed producers for Hutchins’ death in an emotional Facebook post on Sunday. Svetnoy said he had worked with Hutchins on multiple films and faulted “negligence and unprofessionalism” among those handling weapons on the set. He said producers hired an inexperienced armourer.
A vigil for Hutchins was held on Sunday in southern California. Attenders exchanged tearful hugs and speakers called for improved safety standards.
Baldwin, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October, and his impression of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a “tragic accident”. On Friday he said there were “no words” to express his shock and sadness.
Chief electrician for Rust, Serge Svetnoy, said in a Facebook post on Sunday he held Hutchins in his arms while she was dying and blamed “negligence and unprofessionalism” for her death.
On Sunday, a crew member who worked with Halls on another project said she had raised safety concerns about him in 2019.
The 63 year old rose to prominence in films such as Beetlejuice and The Hunt For Red October, as well as his collaborations with directors Woody Allen, in films such as Alice, and Blue Jasmine, and Martin Scorsese in The Aviator and The Departed.
He also stars opposite Tom Cruise in the Mission: Impossible films and was nominated for an Oscar for his 2003 film The Cooler.