Alec Baldwin said Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins ‘was my friend’ and revealed he ‘took her to dinner with the director’ on the first day of shooting when he stopped to talk to photographers in Vermont.
Baldwin was with his wife Hilaria, who appeared to be filming the interaction, when the couple pulled over to talk to photographers in Manchester, Vermont.
The couple spoke for roughly four minutes. He said: ‘A woman died. She was my friend.’
‘The day I arrived in Santa Fe to start shooting, I took her to dinner with Joel, the director,’ he said. ‘We were a very, very well oiled crew shooting a film together and then this horrible event happened.’
Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria stopped to talk to photographers in Manchester, Vermont
Baldwin claimed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, ‘was his friend’ and that he ‘took her out to dinner with the direct’ on the first night in Santa Fe. Hilaria seemed defensive of her heartbroken husband while they talked to photographers before her husband shooed her away stating: ‘Do me a favor, I’m going to answer the questions’
Baldwin looked distraught as he was out with his family in Manchester, Vermont
Baldwin told photographers he had been ‘ordered’ by the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office ‘not to talk about the investigation,’ but is ‘eagerly awaiting for the sheriff’s department’ to release their findings.
He also claimed he ‘talks to the cops every day’ following the death of the 42-year-old filmmaker.
Hilaria appeared quite upset when the photographer stuttered over Hutchins’ name before angrily saying ‘you should know her name.’
‘Halyna, her name is Halyna. If you’re spending this much time waiting for us…’ she started, before the couple finished together: ‘you should know her name.’
When asked how he would describe the meeting with Hutchins’ husband and son, Baldwin said he ‘wouldn’t know how to characterize that.’
Hutchins’ husband Matthew, 38, a lawyer with whom she shares an eight-year-old son, told DailyMail.com on October 22: ‘I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive.’
Hilaria injected herself into the conversation with photographers as Baldwin stuttered for an answer regarding Hutchins’ family. She angrily said: ‘You know what, no details,’ before Baldwin shooed her away.
Hilaria waved the photographers over after they pulled over to talk to them
Baldwin claimed Hutchins’ death was ‘one in a trillion’ before saying ‘probably billions’ of gunshots have gone off ‘without incident’ on filmsets in America without ‘incident’
This time, he said: ‘Do me a favor, I’m going to answer the questions.’
He told photographers Hutchins’ husband is ‘overwhelmed with grief.’
Matthew and the couple’s only son Andros were seen collecting multiple pieces of luggage from the curb yesterday after a limousine dropped it off at their Venice Beach, California, home.
The items were reportedly delivered to the couple’s home on Thursday via a limousine driver. The delivery, which came exactly one week after the mother was fatally shot, was believed to be a haul of Halyna’s belongings being returned home from the movie set in New Mexico.
Baldwin claimed he was a big supporter of getting ‘new measures’ enacted about about set safety after calling the event ‘one in a trillion’
‘How many bullets have been fired in films and tv shows in the last 75 years?’ he questions photographers.
‘This is America. Probably billions,’ he said. ‘And nearly all of them without incident.’
Baldwin smiled as he approached the photographer while Hilaria seemed stiff as she filmed the photographer
He said that there needs to be ‘new measures’ for ‘when something does go wrong’ on film sets, but said it ‘wasn’t for him to decide.’
‘It’s urgent for you to understand that I am not an expert in this field,’ he said. It’s ‘whatever other people’ decide.
Hilaria can be heard telling them to ‘go home’ and to ‘turn it [cameras] off now.’
Hutchins’ died on October 21 after Baldwin pointed and fired a pistol at her during a scene and it injured director Joel Souza in the shoulder.
The gun that killed the filmmaker was a Colt pistol. Alec Baldwin was handling the vintage gun on the set of Rust in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when it accidentally discharged – killing the mom-of-one and wounding director Joel Souza.
According to a call sheet obtained by DailyMail.com, Baldwin was taking part in a mock gunfight inside the church building on the Bonanza Ranch film set when Hutchins was hit.
Co-stars Jensen Ackles, Swen Temmel and Travis Hammer were also in the scene – numbered 121 – alongside Baldwin’s stunt double Blake Teixeira and stunt coordinator Allan Graf.
Production notes show the Colt pistol was one of several weapons on set at the time but the only one used in 121 and the preceding 118.
The armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, said ‘wasn’t sure if I was ready’ in an interview prior to filming.
She also admitted in the podcast interview that she found loading blanks into a gun to be ‘the scariest’ thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.
First assistant director Dave Halls had grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds.
‘Cold gun!’ shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, the warrant said.
Baldwin and Hutchins (circled) are pictured together on the set of Rust, in an image that she uploaded to Instagram two days before
Hutchins was behind the camera while the scene was being filmed on October 21
Baldwin ignored the golden rule of gun safety by pointing the prop at someone but the gun never should have been loaded with live ammunition to begin with, experts say.
Zak Knight, a pyrotechnic and special effects engineer who is a member of Local 44, told DailyMail.com on October 22: ‘There should have never been live rounds on a movie set, that’s number one. Number two is every single person on a movie set has a right to inspect a weapon before it’s fired. And number three is, there is no reason to ever put a person in front of a weapon that’s firing.
‘Anytime you see a movie where the barrel is pointed down the camera lens, there should not be an operator behind it. It’s obvious that the considerations of this resulted in that gun being pointed directly at two people.
The crew on Baldwin’s movie set were already concerned about gun safety before he accidentally shot and killed Hutchins.
The warrant indicated that a single bullet struck Hutchins in the chest, and then struck director Joel Souza in the shoulder as he was standing behind her, injuring him, suggesting the bullet traveled all the way through Hutchins’ body.
Unionized workers had walked off the set hours before the fatal shooting, after they complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving ‘two misfires’ of a prop weapon.
Baldwin told the photographer he didn’t think production would start up again.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk