ABC
More than one month after Halyna Hutchins’s tragic passing on the set of Rust, Alec Baldwin has decided to share his side of the story.
The actor, who was also a producer on the film, sat down with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on Thursday, December 2 to walk viewers through what happened on that fateful day in October.
Along with detailing what exactly happened before Hutchins was fatally shot, Baldwin also revealed he doesn’t believe he’s responsible for what happened.
In the interview, Baldwin reveals the accident occurred while they were doing rehearsals for a scene in which he was supposed to fire a gun.
“She was standing next to the camera, looking at a monitor … guiding me for how to hold the gun for this angle. The gun wasn’t meant to be fired in that angle,” he explained.
“I am holding the gun where I was told to hold it, which was right below her armpit. An angle that might not be filmed at all.”
Then, according to Baldwin, Hutchins instructed him to begin cocking the hammer.
“I pulled the hammer as far back as I could without cocking the gun. I let go of the hammer and bang, the gun goes off,” he shared.
While the gunshot ultimately killed Hutchins, director Joel Souza was also injured from the bullet. However, it wasn’t until after Hutchins had passed away that Baldwin learned the gun contained a live round.
“Everyone was shocked … the gun was supposed to be empty. I was told I was handed an empty gun. She goes down, I thought to myself, did she faint?” he said.
“The notion that there was a live round in that gun did not dawn on me until 45 minutes or an hour later.”
Despite not knowing how the bullet was put into the gun, Baldwin doesn’t buy into the speculation that this was an act of sabotage, something armorer Hannah Guiterrez Reed has claimed.
“That is a big swing, that is an enormous charge to make, that someone came in and did something, for what purpose? To attack who? To discredit who? It is overwhelmingly likely that it was an accident,” he said.
And, though he was the one holding the gun, Baldwin explained to Stephanopoulos that he does not feel responsible for what happened that day.
“Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” he shared.
“My family is all I have, honest to God, I could give a s—t about my career anymore. I might have killed myself if I felt that I was responsible.”
Along with sharing details of what happened on that day, Baldwin also revealed he spent time with Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, and their 9-year-old son.
“They were as kind as can be. He said, ‘Well I guess you and I are going to go through this together,’” an emotional Baldwin shared.
“This boy doesn’t have a mother anymore. And there is nothing we can do to bring her back. And I told him, ‘I don’t know what to say, I don’t know how to convey to you how sorry I am, and that I will do anything to cooperate.’”
