Alec Baldwin has accused the media of wanting him “to die” and said that he plans to “expose what really happened” around the case over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021 on the set of the film Rust.
Baldwin was speaking to fellow actor David Duchovny on the latter’s Fail Better podcast shortly after the completed film premiered at the Camerimage festival in Poland, and five months after involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin were dismissed due to the withholding of evidence by the prosecution.
Asked “what happens next?” by Duchovny, Baldwin said: “There’s more to come. [It] is now my effort … to raise and to expose what really happened.
“The mainstream press and the tabloid press suppressed every story that could benefit me and amplified every story that could hurt me. This has been for three years. And the truth of what happened has never been told.”
He added: “These last three years, people have just dined out. Because in this country, when people hate you on that level, they want three things. They want you to die. The second thing is they want you to go to prison … These political crowds … love to see their enemies put in prison for years because prison is like a living hell. And the third thing is they want you cancelled, which is like being in prison or being dead, because you roam the earth and … you’re invisible.”
Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter after a prop pistol he was holding on the film’s set in New Mexico discharged a live round, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon, while the film crew’s armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Souza agreed to finish Rust with a replacement cinematographer, Bianca Cline, in 2023 after a settlement between the film’s producers and Hutchins’ family, as part of which her young son will benefit financially from the film’s proceeds. Baldwin, who is credited as one of the film’s producers, did not attend the premiere. Hutchins’ mother Olga Solovey, who has filed a civil lawsuit against Baldwin, announced that she would not attend the event either, saying that Baldwin has [refused] to take responsibility for [Hutchins’] death … [and] seeks to unjustly profit from his killing of my daughter.”
During a subsequent appearance at the Torino film festival, Baldwin denied he was profiting from the film’s release saying, “The notion that anybody has profited from the film’s sale and distribution is blatantly untrue.” He added: “I waived my fee … I gave everything to ‘[Hutchins’] husband [Matthew Hutchins]. He owns the film. Her husband, I believe, is the sole owner of the film, though I could be wrong. Everything was done with that in mind.”
In his interview with Duchovny, Baldwin thanked his wife Hilaria for her support, saying “I owe my wife everything”, and expressed confidence that his “cancellation” over the shooting incident is easing. “I do believe that by the communications I’ve had lately, that things are coming back my way to work, and I’m happy for that because I’ve got seven kids.”
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