In 2021, a tragic accident occurred when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot on the set of Rust. Actor Alec Baldwin was holding the gun at the time, and as such, he’s now decided to sue a number of Rust crew members to try and clear his name over how they handled and supplied the loaded gun to him.
As noted via THR, “Baldwin filed a cross-complaint in Superior Court in Los Angeles alleging negligence against some of the people sued by a script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell.” It was noted that, “among other things,” the cross-complaint that Alec Baldwin filed “seeks a share of any damages that Mitchell may win from the people Baldwin names.” Additionally, the cross-complaint “asks that they pay for any damages assessed against him.”
At the time of the accident, Mamie Mitchell was standing behind Halyna Hutchins. As such, Mitchell sued Baldwin, who was also a producer on Rust, and included several other members of the crew with her lawsuit. She also sued the production company behind the film, all of which were targeted for assault and negligence.
In the cross-complaint filed by Alec Baldwin, he stated “that while working on camera angles with Hutchins during rehearsal for a scene, he pointed the gun in her direction and pulled back and released the hammer of the gun, which discharged.” This led to Hutchins being fatally wounded while director Joel Souza had his shoulder shot. However, Baldwin claims that both he nor Hutchins knew that the gun contained a live round.
The lawsuit stated the following:
“This tragedy occurred on a movie set — not a gun range, not a battlefield, not a location where even a remote possibility should exist that a gun would contain live ammunition,” the lawsuit said.
Additionally, Baldwin’s lawsuit continued by claiming that the actor is being “wrongfully viewed as the perpetrator of this tragedy.”
“More than anyone else on that set, Baldwin has been wrongfully viewed as the perpetrator of this tragedy. By these cross-claims, Baldwin seeks to clear his name,” the actor’s lawsuit says.
His lawsuit further claims that he “has suffered physically and emotionally from the grief caused by these events.” This includes a number of lost opportunities and jobs over the incident. Interestingly, New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator determined the shooting was an accident. On the other hand, a recent FBI forensic report claims that the weapon could have only fired if the trigger were pulled – not merely the hammer.
THR further noted that Rust Movie Productions is challenging a fine from New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau. This fine was launched in April, and included a maximum of $137,000 against the company. It was described as having “distributed a scathing narrative of safety failures, including testimony that production managers took limited or no action to address two misfires of blank ammunition on set prior to the fatal shooting.”
As for the Rust crew members that the lawsuit from Alec Baldwin names, they’ve all previously denied responsibility for the shooting. Nevertheless, the suit “alleges negligence by armorer Hannah Guttierez-Reed; prop master Sarah Zachry; first assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls, who handed Baldwin the gun; ammunition supplier Seth Kenney and his company, PDQ Arm & Prop, which also supplied prop weapons for the production.” As such, we’ll just have to see how this situation develops.
Alec Baldwin Sues ‘Rust’ Crew Members To “Clear His Name”
Source: Breaking Update News
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