It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 3 and a half years since the tragic on set death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She was shot while filming scenes for the Western film “Rust.” There should have been safety procedures and oversight in place to avoid this kind of tragedy from occurring. That was clearly not the case, and there are still many questions unanswered. An upcoming documentary from Hulu is hoping to shed more light on this.
In October of 2021, two people were shot on set of “Rust.” Director Joel Souza was injured, and Hutchins was killed. The gun was believed to be empty, but discharged while being handled by actor and producer Alec Baldwin. Subsequent charges were filed against several members of the production team including Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. While Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Baldwin’s trial ended in a dismissal due to prosecutorial misconduct.
“Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna” is diving headlong into the case and the life of Hutchins. The trailer shows footage of police questionings, 911 audio, and various interviews. One of the clips involves the armorer being asked how live ammunition wound up on the set. She responds that she doesn’t know, a fairly alarming answer. It will be interesting to see if this documentary has anything significant to reveal about how this all could have happened.
How did live ammunition wind up in the gun? Did the gun autonomously misfire like Baldwin claims, or did he pull the trigger? How did the prosecution so clearly bumble the case they had against Baldwin? Hopefully the documentary can shed a bit more light on Hutchins as a person, and why the world of film is a lesser place without her presence.
“Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna” is set to premiere on Hulu on March 11th, 2025. You can watch the trailer below:
