‘Rust’ Director Says Filming Was ‘Difficult’ For Alec Baldwin After Halyna Hutchins’ Death

"Rust" director Joel Souza is explaining what it was like working with Alec Baldwin following the October 2021 death of Halyna Hutchins.

On October 21, 2021, the "30 Rock" actor had been rehearsing a scene inside of a church when the gun he was holding went off. The bullet went through the cinematographer and wounded the director, who was hospitalized but later returned to finish the film.

After several hiccups, "Rust" moved production from New Mexico to Montana, where it resumed production on April 2023. The scene in the church was scrapped out of respect to Hutchins and rewritten.

Another big change was the decision to include safety officers on set and remove real guns from the film. However, at the film's Camerimage Festival debut in Poland, director Joel Souza said that filming with any guns at all was "unnerving" for Alec Baldwin.

Although the "Beetlejuice" actor did not attend the premiere, The Hollywood Reporter asked Souza what it was like for Baldwin to return to work.

"I’m sure we had conversations about it. I can’t remember the substance of them," Souza explained. "But I have zero doubt that it was an unnerving thing for him to do and a large moment for him."

Although he was freed of criminal charges by the time "Rust" resumed filming in April 2023 (and finally cleared from them when the trial came to an abrupt end in July 2024), Souza noted that it was "tough" for Baldwin to resume filming due to what he had experienced almost two years earlier.

"It was tough for him, you know. I think he was going through all of his own stuff the whole time," the indie director explained. "I can only imagine how difficult that was. But we got through it."

Currently, "Rust" does not have a release date in the United States. It recently made its debut at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland, where a panel was held to reflect on the life and legacy of the late cinematographer.

"If people don’t want to watch this movie, for any reason, they certainly don’t need to and there’s no hard feelings from me," the director said, noting that he hopes those that do watch the film will pay attention to Halyna Hutchins' work.

"Because it’s a very unique opportunity to look through Halyna’s eyes and see how she saw the world," he explained. "How much she is missed is evidenced by the fact that so many people came back to finish this film for her. They came back and stepped into a very difficult and loaded situation because they were touched by her, and it was important to them to finish this for her. A large part of our business only got to know Halyna’s name because of what happened to her — and I think that’s a shame."

On November 20, Halyna Hutchins' mother released a statement through her attorney, Gloria Allred, claiming that Baldwin decided "not even to call the family to say he is sorry" for the death of her daughter and went on to say that the actor "is cruel and dishonors Halyna and her memory."

"It was always my hope to meet my daughter in Poland to watch her work come alive on screen," Solovey said in her statement. "Unfortunately, that was ripped away from me when Alec Baldwin discharged his gun and killed my daughter. Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death."

"Instead, he seeks to unjustly profit from his killing of my daughter. That is the reason why I refuse to attend the festival for the promotion of Rust, especially now when there is still no justice for my daughter," she added.

Alec Baldwin did not attend the premiere.

After Halyna Hutchins passed away, cinematographer Bianca Cline was brought on board to complete the project. On October 3, when it was first announced that "Rust" would make its world premiere at the Polish film festival, Cline told Peoplemagazine that Hutchins' mother and sister were "very excited" for the movie premiere.

"Halyna's mother was probably the biggest champion of the film," Cline said at that time. "She wanted it to be done because she knew how much it meant to Halyna. She told me how excited Halyna was to see the film."

Halyna Hutchins' family is not the only one who felt the screening was in bad taste. Several other crew members who have worked in the industry felt releasing the movie was "promoting the film that killed her."