Alec Baldwin just got fired from a movie he was set to work on due to the Rust shooting. Rust is a currently-suspended Western film that was directed by Joel Souza, starring Baldwin, Vikings star Travis Fimmel, and The Boys actor Jensen Ackles. The film began development in May of 2020 when Baldwin announced that he was set to both act in and produce the project. Rust began filming in early October of 2021 in New Mexico before a devastating event brought production to a halt.
On October 21, 2021, Baldwin was handling a prop revolver on the set of Rust, which was filming at Bonanza Ranch in Bonanza, New Mexico. While Baldwin was handling the gun, a single shot was discharged, which injured Souza and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. As a result of the shooting, production on Rust was immediately and indefinitely suspended. Baldwin says that the discharge was completely accidental and that he never pulled the trigger on the gun, saying that the revolver fired on its own. However, an FBI forensics report indicated that the trigger must have been pulled in order for the weapon to discharge. The day of the shooting, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation into the incident, and the investigation has been ongoing ever since.
In an interview with CNN, Baldwin revealed that he's lost several jobs due to the Rust shooting. Baldwin says he's lost five jobs since the shooting, including a project which he was very suddenly fired from this week. While Baldwin didn't name the project he was fired from, he says that he had been in talks with the producers for months and was suddenly let go just as he was about to get on a plane to begin filming. Read Baldwin's full comment below:
"I got fired from another job yesterday. There I was all set to go to a movie, jump on a plane ... I've been talking with these guys for months and they told me yesterday we don't want to do the film with you because of this."
Baldwin also says that he has feared for his safety ever since Donald Trump expressed his belief that Baldwin killed Hutchins purposefully. Baldwin has been very vocal about insisting Hutchins' death was completely accidental and has not taken any personal responsibility for the tragedy. Earlier this year, Baldwin came under fire for allegedly wanting to continue filming Rust after Hutchins' death to honor her memory and for returning to acting only five months after the shooting. In December of 2021, Baldwin deleted his Twitter account following an interview on the Rust shooting, in which he said that he never pulled the trigger on the revolver and isn't to blame for the incident.
While Baldwin has attracted the most backlash, Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has also been a target for blame, as it was Gutierrez-Reed's job to ensure the weapons used on-set were completely safe. Although both Baldwin and Rust producer Anjul Nigam have expressed that they truly believe filming on Rust will continue - and that doing so would honor Hutchins' memory - things look bleak for the future of the film, as the project is now synonymous with a truly tragic event. Seeing as Baldwin has seemingly struggled to book much work in the wake of the Rust shooting, it's clear people are still putting the most blame on the actor over Hutchins' death.
Source: CNN