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‘We’re Not Friends, We’re Not Enemies’: Rust Director On His Relationship With Alec Baldwin Amid Fatal On-Set Shooting Fiasco
First time since the fatal shooting incident on the sets of Rust, which left him seriously injured, the director opened up about his relationship with the actor who pulled the trigger!
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of death, brutality, and murder.
Director Joel Souza has opened up about the October 2021 fatal shooting incident on the sets of Rust for the first time. In an interview with Variety, Souza revealed that after the accidental shooting incident, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and fatally injured him, he has no relationship with Alec Baldwin—the actor who fired the live bullet.
“We’re not friends. We’re not enemies. There’s no relationship,” he told the outlet. Despite the crisis, the director managed to complete the film and reflected on collaborating with the Beetlejuice actor after the incident. “Getting through it was tough. We got through it. I got the performance I wanted,” Souza said.
The filmmaker revealed that after much contemplation, he decided to resume and complete the film to honor Hutchins’ legacy and help her family financially. “I knew that the movie being finished would financially benefit Halyna’s family, which is very important to me,” he said. “Her last work matters. People seeing her last work matters. That was the tipping point for me in the decision.”
Souza was standing behind Hutchins directing a scene when the actor fired the gun; it hit the former on the shoulder and the latter on the chest.
During an interview with Vanity Fair, the director disclosed details of his near-death experience and said it “felt like a horse kicked me in the shoulder or someone hit me with a bat.” As a result, the right side of his body was numb and in excruciating pain at the same time. “It’s just like everything went tingly and numb but hurt like hell all at once,” he added.
The bullet fortunately missed his spine by a close margin. However, when he got hit, he wished that he’d bleed to death and never wake up. “It was a very difficult moment. I remember just thinking. Maybe I’ll just sort of bleed to death — that would suit me just fine,” he recalled.
Several legal cases have been ongoing since the unfortunate incident, and Baldwin has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Weighing in on the case, Souza admitted that although he understood both perspectives, he wasn’t going to take sides.
“Does it matter if I think it’s fair or not? The charges got filed. That’s what they decided to do. Was he overcharged? I don’t know,” he added.
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