The family of the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has filed a lawsuit against actor Alec Baldwin and other members of the film Rust, alleging that reckless behaviour and cost-cutting led to Hutchins’ wrongful death on set.
Hutchins, a 42-year-old film veteran, was shot and killed on 21 October last year while preparing for a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, when a gun held by Baldwin accidentally went off, in an incident that shocked Hollywood and prompted a reckoning over production safety and the use of weapons on set.
The suit also names seven producers as defendants – Ryan Smith, Allen Cheney, Nathan Klingher, Ryan Winterstern, Anjul Nigam, Matthew DelPiano and Emily Salveson – as well as crew members Sarah Zachry, Dave Halls, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, Gabrielle Pickle and Seth Kenney, among others.
Investigators have described “some complacency” in how weapons were handled on the “Rust” set. They have said it is too soon to determine whether charges will be filed.
Baldwin said he does not believe he will be criminally charged in the shooting.
Read also: Cinematography veterans speak-out on the production industry’s “safety crisis”
