Production for the movie Alec Baldwin was filming when the prop gun he was holding fired a round killing Halyna Hutchins and wounding the director, Joel Souza, is set to continue.
According to new reports, Hutchins’ family has recently reached an undisclosed settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed against Baldwin. Hutchins was the movie’s cinematographer.
Months After Halyna Hutchins’ Death, Alec Baldwin and Crew Are Set to Resume Filming
As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Hutchins, the director, and Baldwin were marking a scene and going over the way Alec would remove the gun from his holster when the gun somehow discharged. In the handful of interviews Baldwin agreed to since that tragic day, the actor has been adamant that he never pulled the trigger.
Now, CNN reports that after settling the wrongful death lawsuit with Hutchins’ family, the movie will continue filming. The shoot for Rust was obviously put on hold while these matters at hand were sorted out.
CNN further reports that Huchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, will become an executive producer of the movie and will receive a portion of the profits the movie with potentially bring in.
“We have reached a settlement, subject to court approval, for our wrongful death case against the producers of Rust, including Alec Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions, LLC. As part of that settlement, our case will be dismissed,” Matthew Hutchins said in his statement obtained by CNN.
“The filming of Rust, which I will now executive produce, will resume with all the original principal players on board in January 2023. I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin). All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.”
Baldwin’s lawyer, Luke Nikas, also issued a statement, writing, “Throughout this difficult process, everyone has maintained the specific desire to do what is best for Halyna’s son. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the resolution of this tragic and painful situation.”
Souza is also expected to return as the movie’s director. Though certainly bittersweet, I am pleased that together, we will now complete what Halyna and I started. My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halyna’s legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf,” said Souza said, in part, CNN reports.
Back in December, Alec Baldwin did an interview with ABC News. During that interview, Baldwin said that “the trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger on them, never.”
He reiterated that statement while talking with Chris Cuomo.
“I know that every single person on the set of the film knows what happened,” Baldwin continued. “The people that are talking loudest about what happened or speculating about what happened were not on the set of the film … they talk on and on and on about ‘what if’ this and ‘what if’ that.”
“They have dined out on this, and the thing that they have in common is nobody was there. And everybody who was there, they know exactly what happened.”
In July, the FBI concluded their investigation into the shooting and released its report. The FBI reported that it found the gun to be “intact and functional.” Further, the report reveals that the gun “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger” unless the hammer of the revolver was “decocked on on a loaded chamber.”
While Baldwin himself has yet to make a personal statement regarding the FBI’s findings, an attorney for the actor, Luke Nikas, did issue a statement to ABC News. The lawyer said the report is “being misconstrued,” adding that, “the gun fired in testing only one time — without having to pull the trigger — when the hammer was pulled back and the gun broke in two different places. The FBI was unable to fire the gun in any prior test, even when pulling the trigger because it was in such poor condition.”
Nikas continued by saying “the critical report is the one from the medical examiner, who concluded that this was a tragic accident.” As ABC News also obtain, the postmortem report revealed that “based on all available information, including the absence of obvious intent to cause harm or death, the manner of death is best classified as an accident.”
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