Actor Alec Baldwin has said that the real story behind the tragic shooting on the set of the movie Rust has not been told yet. Baldwin shared his thoughts on David Duchovny’s podcast, Fail Better, on December 16, 2024. He plans to explain what happened during the October 21, 2021, shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins, the movie’s cinematographer, and injured its director, Joel Souza.
Baldwin said, “The truth of what happened has never been told,” and promised to work on sharing the facts.
During the filming of the western movie Rust, Baldwin was handling a prop gun that unexpectedly fired a live bullet. Halyna Hutchins lost her life, and director Joel Souza was hurt. Baldwin said he did not pull the trigger, but there has been much debate about this claim.
After the incident, Baldwin faced charges of manslaughter, meaning he was accused of being responsible for Hutchins’ death. However, those charges were dropped in July 2023 after Baldwin’s lawyers said some evidence was hidden by the police and the lawyers who were prosecuting him.
The person in charge of weapons on the set, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was also accused of mishandling evidence. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In the podcast, Baldwin shared his feelings about the past three years, saying that the media and some people were unfair to him. He explained, “I was being accused. I was being indicted. 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.”
He also said the media focused on stories that made him look bad and ignored ones that could have helped prove his innocence.
Baldwin compared his experience to feeling “invisible,” as if he had been shunned by the film industry.
Even though the incident has been difficult for Baldwin, he believes better days are ahead. “I do believe that… things are coming back my way to work,” he said, adding that he is happy about the chance to act again. He is also motivated to keep going for the sake of his seven children.
Baldwin hinted that more information about what really happened on the set of Rust will come out in the future. He said there are still many details people don’t know because the case never went to trial.
Baldwin’s announcement shows that the story of the Rust shooting is not over yet. While the actor hopes to rebuild his career and clear his name, questions remain about what went wrong on the set that day.
This tragic event has also reminded the film industry to take safety very seriously, especially when using dangerous equipment like prop guns. Baldwin’s efforts to tell his side of the story may help bring more answers in the coming months.
