Alec Baldwin 'Canceling Other Projects' After Rust Shooting Death, 'Inconsolable for Hours' Says

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source

Alec Baldwin "is canceling other projects" following an accidental shooting on the set of his film, Rust, that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead and director Joel Souza injured.

A source tells PEOPLE that Baldwin, 63, is looking "to take some time to himself and re-center himself," as he has during difficult times in the past.

"This was pretty devastating," the source says. "This is how he handles difficult times. Whenever something bad happens, in the short term, he removes himself from [the] public eye."

The source confirms to PEOPLE that Baldwin was "hysterical and absolutely inconsolable for hours" following the shooting: "Everyone knows this was an accident, but he's absolutely devastated.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/alec-baldwin-canceling-other-projects-after-rust-shooting-death-inconsolable-for-hours-says-source/ar-AAPSs5z

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Alec Baldwin will be in my prayers

[Maraya1969]

2. I had a feeling about his/him. He seems like a concerned person; this is not going

to be easy on him.

I had a relative kill someone by mistake with a gun and the entire family went into a type of grief. Another reason I think we need much more stricter gun control

[ananda]

3. This was a set-related issue.

That whole production was very dysfunctional.

It has to do with how they dealt with unions.

I can't help but think of the many thousands of
productions each year that use guns and never
have an incident.

[Irish_Dem]

4. As a producer he has responsiblity for the many mistakes that led to the death.

And he fired the shot.

Perhaps all of this is weighing on him right now.

[ananda]

5. Maybe so, but that whole production was very compromised. See:

‘Rust’ Production Company To Launch Internal Safety Review After Fatal Accident, Possible Prior Gun Incident & Camera Crew Walkout

https://deadline.com/2021/10/rust-movie-gun-internal-review-safety-issues-production-camera-crew-walkout-1234860497/

Just hours before the fatal Thursday accident, in which Hutchins and director Joel Souza were shot, seven of the film’s camera crew packed up their personal gear and walked off the job, citing a wide range of complaints. Several of those who quit wrote letters of resignation.

“We cited everything from lack of payment for three weeks, taking our hotels away despite asking for them in our deals, lack of Covid safety, and on top of that, poor gun safety! Poor on-set safety period!” a member of the camera crew wrote on a private Facebook page. After the walkout, “They brought in four non-union guys to replace us and tried calling the cops on us.” [...]

Even before Rust went into production, a number of armorers turned down the gig citing concerns about the budget of the film and the sheer amount of firearms to be utilized, we hear.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Oh my, things were really bad.

What a mess.

[redstatebluegirl]

7. Doing things on the cheap...the American way.

[Lithos]

11. That is rather simplistic

And conflates Baldwin's two roles as producer and as a principal actor.

He is one of several producers - producers help provide funding and handle the gross details of getting a production going. They typically hire one or more sub-contracting companies to do the actual work. These companies - the filming company, in this case, handle the filming operations including establishing sets and other pieces. These companies in turn also sub-contract out specific work elements meaning most everyone on the set is a contractor at some level. This includes the "talent" who also have contracts.

The person most responsible for safety on the set is the "First Assistant Director". The person responsible for arms is an Armorer. There are a huge number of protocols that have to happen whenever a gun is brought on set. While I am not privy to the specific details of this situation - there is a lot of circumstantial evidence which has come out that suggests these protocols were *NOT* followed. The specific details will eventually come out, so my next few statements will make that assumption. The biggest question I have includes asking if the gun was presented as "empty" to Baldwin. Even so, he might not be "gun literate" and may not know how to properly check a gun, and would generally assume the skill of the person giving him the gun.

This pushes the liability onto the film crew - notably the First Assistant Director and the Armorer who should have been present. The Producers are likely out of scope because they would have likely pushed this type of on-set responsibility and liability to the Filming Company.

An analogy would be a wedding where the caterer decided to knowingly bring in "tainted food" which gave food poison and killed a guest. The wedding party would likely not be liable for the mistakes of the caterer.

My background - I have a fair number of friends in the film business, though none are Armorers.

L-

On edit:

The basis of this thread echoes everything my friends have told me.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215977554

[Irish_Dem]

12. I am going by a lawyer who talked about this on MSNBC.

She said as a producer, Baldwin would have civil liability.

[Lithos]

14. IANAL

Saying that again - I am not a Lawyer.

Even so, I would be very surprised that in normal circumstances that Baldwin will be held liable. One of two scenarios (again, IANAL) would have had to play out.

1) Baldwin (as the Producer) would have had to been shown to demonstrably encouraged the Filming Company to break the law w/r to Safety. Such as encouraging the hiring of non-skilled people. etc.

Again, I am not privy to details. I have read (though not aware of the veracity) that Baldwin argued with the Filming Company against the firing/departure of the Union people - so that would make such a case harder.

2) Baldwin (as the Actor) would have to have been shown to be reckless with the gun. Again, difficult given that this gun had several misfires and that the actor was told the gun was "Cold". Again, there are details where which are not given - but this is a harder angle to pursue.

Anyone can bring a civil case. An old lawyer told me there are three angles when you bring such a suit:

- You have the facts and law on your side. This is the strongest case.
- You have some sort of moral high ground on your side that creates a huge amount of sympathy. (The company is rich, my client is poor, the law is unfair)
- You can out-theatric and out-yell the other side. But typically no one does this unless there is lots of money and/or attention (ie in the court of public opinion) which is being sought.

The first point will come out with the details, the second one is very, very hard given that Mr. Baldwin has been extremely remorseful and human in his response. The third one is very situational and I can't see happening in this case; had it happened with one of the big players such as Sony - then maybe, not an indie.

On Edit:

I do believe there was a deliberate fault in what happened and that someone was criminally liable to what happened. This was a colossal failure in protocol.

[Lucinda]

8. ❤️ ✿❧🌿❧✿ ❤️

[gldstwmn]

9. My heart goes out to him.

He has a bunch of small children who need him. I hope he will be okay.

[Lancero]

10. Given all the crap that happened on set, calling it accidental is a nice ol white-wash.

Another fine example of White Privilege. Willful negligence being passed off as a freak accident.

And of course, lets not forget all the thoughts, prayers, and hearts going out. Plenty of sympathy for the guy whose willful negligence got someone killed, little if any sympathy for the family of a woman who was killed by a idiot playing cowboy.

[Initech]

13. That is probably a good decision.