Alec Baldwin offered his version of the events that took place on October 22, when an accident involving prop weapons on the set of ‘Rush’ killed director of photography Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
The actor, who was initially accused of having accidentally fired the weapon, has given an interview to ABC News in which he denies having pulled the trigger.
"There was a test mark. She is next to the camera. The camera is here. She is giving me directions on how she wants me to keep the angle. I take out the gun, the gun was not expected to go off in that shot", he remembered.
"I didn’t shoot the camera lens. I held the gun where she told me to hold it, which happened to be under her armpit. And while we’re doing this, I start to cock the gun. I said, ‘Do you want to see it?’ I answered yes"he explained.
"I dropped the hammer of the pistol and the pistol went off"Baldwin stated, making it clear that he never pulled the trigger.
"There are those who say that you are never supposed to point a gun at anyone on a set under any circumstances."highlighted George Stephanopoulos, who interviewed the star. "Unless the person is the cinematographer, who tells me where to point the gun for his camera angle.
As for the handling of the weapon, that day I did exactly what I did every day in that movie. The actor’s responsibility is to do what the prop gunsmith tells him to do."Baldwin replied.
A second culprit
"I couldn’t believe Halyna was shot. No one could understand what was going on, was he having a heart attack? The idea that there was a real bullet in the gun did not cross our minds"stated the interpreter, who assured that the first assistant director told him that the weapon was "cold", which means it is unloaded or contains non-live ammunition.
The actor claimed that when he saw Hutchins, he thought he had suffered a heart attack or had been injured with a blank gun.
In addition to making it clear that he did not pull the trigger, the interviewee suggested that there was another culprit involved in the accident.
"Someone put live ammo in that gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be in that place", he opined.
In the interview he also took the opportunity to dedicate a few words to the deceased. "She was a person loved and admired by all who worked with her"he said, visibly excited.
Faced with criticism
Stephanopoulos also asked Baldwin about comments from celebrities like George Clooney, who said in an interview that he always checked to see if the handgun handed to him was loaded.
"There were many people who felt it was necessary to contribute some comment, which didn’t really help the situation at all. If your protocol is to check the gun all the time, good for you, good for you. I’ve probably handled guns as much as any other actor in movies with an average career, shooting or being shot by someone, and had a protocol that never failed.", answered.
Baldwin also had to deal with comments from Donald Trump. The former president dropped that the actor had shot Hutchins on purpose.
"He says I did it on purpose and thought to myself ‘just when you think things can’t get any more surreal, here’s the former president of the United States making a comment on this tragic situation’", lament.
The American interpreter was also seriously affected on a psychological level by what happened. "I have not slept for weeks, I am physically exhausted from this. I don’t give a shit about my career anymore", said.
"Do I want to work more after this? It’s worth it? Someone is responsible for what happened, but I know it’s not me", he sentenced.
Sentence
Baldwin admitted that people "experts" they had assured him that it was "unlikely" charges against him.
During the interview, Baldwin mentioned the civil cases that have arisen in the wake of the incident.
"I find it strange because those two people are jumping in to make sure their demands are filed before the husband files his. Couldn’t they wait until Matthew Hutchins on his son’s behalf filed his lawsuit?", he asked himself.
"I’d be surprised if Matthew, on behalf of his son, didn’t file some kind of civil lawsuit against the production with his insurers or something like that.", he opined.
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