“More than anyone else on the set, Baldwin was wrongly viewed as the culprit of this tragedy,” the lawsuit says.
Alec Baldwin has filed a lawsuit against members of the Rust crew for negligence in an attempt to “clear his name” after a fatal shooting on set.
On October 21 last year, Baldwin fired a fake pistol during a rehearsal of a scene that killed cameraman Galina Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. He claimed that assistant director Dave Halls told him that the gun was “cold” (aka blank).
The tragedy led to the fact that the shooting and production of Rust were postponed indefinitely. In February of this year, the Hutchins family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and other members of the Rust production group, which was settled last month.
Baldwin has now filed a negligence and damages lawsuit against a number of Rust team members, including gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez Reed, gun and ammunition supplier Seth Kenny, first assistant director David Halls and property manager Sarah Zachry. All previously denied responsibility for the fatal shooting.
The complaint from Baldwin’s lawyer, Luke Nikas, reads (via Deadline): “This tragedy occurred due to the fact that live bullets were delivered to the set and loaded into a gun, Gutierrez-Reed could not thoroughly check the bullets or the gun, Halls did not check the gun. carefully and yet announced that the gun was safe before handing it to Baldwin, and Zahri did not report that Gutierrez-Reed acted recklessly off the set and posed a safety risk to others.”
The lawsuit also discusses how, in Baldwin’s opinion, this incident negatively affected his career. “Baldwin also lost many employment opportunities and related income,” the lawsuit says. “For example, he was fired from several positions specifically because of the Rust incident and was missed for other opportunities, which is a direct result of the negligence of Gutierrez’s cross-defendants-Reed, Halls, Kenny, PDQ and Zahri.”.
“More than anyone else on the set, Baldwin was wrongly considered the culprit of this tragedy,” he adds. “With these counterclaims, Baldwin seeks to clear his name and hold the counter-defendants accountable for their misconduct.”
In a controversial interview with ABC News in December, Baldwin said he “did not pull the trigger” of the gun that killed Hutchins. “The trigger wasn’t pulled,— Baldwin said. “I didn’t pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger on them, never.”
The actor also addressed the question of whether this shooting could mean the end of his career. “I don’t care about my career anymore,” Baldwin said.
Speaking about his mental state, Baldwin added: “Now I dream about it all the time. I live my day, and I do it every other day. Then I pass out at the end of the day. Emotionally, I’m losing consciousness.”
