The fallout from the fatal prop gun shooting on the set of Rust continues to unfold, with new revelations about the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins still coming out every few days as investigations into continue. Now, in a misguided attempt to try and satiate the hungry paparazzi who have unsurprisingly been hounding him since the incident, Alec Baldwin has decided to publicly address the death of Hutchins.
This comes from Deadline, which says Baldwin and his wife, Hilaria, stopped their car to speak with photographers yesterday in Vermont in what sounds like a semi-planned “let’s get this over with”-type interaction. Baldwin says he was told not to talk about the investigation, but he says he has been speaking with the cops “every day” about it. Of Hutchins, he said she “was my friend,” and he notes that the two of them and director Joel Souza all went out to dinner on the first day of shooting.
Baldwin also says they were part of a “very, very well-oiled crew” that was working on Rust and suggested that, while this shooting was a “one in a trillion” event, there should be “new measures” to guarantee safety. At the same time, though, he noted that productions in America have fired “probably billions” of rounds, “and nearly all of them without incident.”
Deadline says Hilaria Baldwin was filming the interaction and repeatedly told Alec not to give specific details, but the report says that he “took control” at one point and told her, “do me a favor, I’m going to answer the questions.” The two also apparently snapped at a reporter who “stuttered Hutchins’ name” (as Deadline puts it), prompting them to say that the press “should know her name” if they’re going to be waiting around for Baldwin.
Nobody really comes out of this looking good, as is the case with most Rust updates, but the paparazzi live to get statements like this and Baldwin clearly wants to address what’s going on (even as he seems to resent the fact that people are making this about him and not Hutchins). It all just remains very sad.