Alec Baldwin Sheds More Light On Rust Shooting In New Interview
Just a few weeks ago, Halyna Hutchins' husband Matthew spoke out for the first time about the fatal "Rust" shooting that took his wife's life. In part, he claimed to be shocked that Alec Baldwin, who was holding the gun that shot the cinematographer, had not up until that point taken more responsibility for Hutchins' death. "The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me," Matthew told Today.
Previously, Baldwin deflected culpability for the accidental shooting, saying during an ABC News interview, "Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can't say who that is, but I know it's not me." The actor even seemed to blame Hutchins for the tragedy, explaining at one point about the incident, "This was a marking rehearsal. And [Hutchins] says to me, 'Hold the gun lower. Go to your right. Okay, right there. All right, do that. Now show it a little bit lower.' And she's getting me to position the gun." Baldwin added, "She's guiding me through how she wants me to hold the gun for this angle. I'm holding the gun where she told me to hold it, which ended up being aimed right below her armpit."
Now, in a new interview, the star is sharing more insight into where he stands on what happened that fateful day.
Alec Baldwin says lawsuits are financially motivated
Baldwin opened up more about the "Rust" incident that claimed the life of Hutchins while appearing at the Boulder International Film Festival over the weekend (via The Hollywood Reporter).
"From the beginning, from the moment this happened, everybody has put out — besides all the anguish and the suffering, horrible feelings we have and, of course, there are two victims and nobody else is a victim, so to speak — we have dealt with a situation where specific people are not as interested in finding out what really happened," Baldwin stated, likely referencing that director Joel Souza was also shot that day in October.
The dad of seven continued, "What you have is a certain group of litigants on whatever side, who their attitude is, well, the people who likely seem negligent have enough money. And the people who have money are not negligent, but we're not gonna let that stop us from doing what we need to do in terms of litigation. Why sue people if you're not going to get money? That's what you're doing."
Alec Baldwin still believes he is not to blame
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Baldwin also defended the safety record of the movie industry in general during the interview. He then doubled down on not taking blame for the shooting, saying, "When someone whose job it is to ensure the safety of the weapon hands someone else whose job was to be the secondary layer of protection for safety and they hand it over to and you declare that that weapon is safe — that's how I've lived my whole life. I've relied on the safety experts there to declare the gun is safe and hand me the gun. Never had a problem."
He went on to say real guns are used in films because that is what moviegoers want.
"I'm very hopeful when the facts come out," the actor also said at one point. "We will not be held criminally responsible but it has changed my life, and I don't mean this in the ordinary sense that I was involved in something or somebody passed. I mean, I was involved in a situation with somebody was killed. It's changed my life just in terms of the function of weapons in films and television."