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Quentin Tarantino claims Alec Baldwin is partly responsible for ‘Rust’ shooting

Tue 27 August 2024 9:50, UK

In 2021, while working on the movie, Rust, actor Alec Baldwin was involved in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and although he’s now been cleared of all charges in court, director Quentin Tarantino has weighed on the tragic occurrence.

In fact, the director of Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has argued that Baldwin is partially to blame for the 2021 shooting. The 30 Rock star had been holding a gun that had live ammunition, which shot rounds and killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.

Baldwin faced up to 18-months in prison if he had been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but the case was dismissed in July, with the judge announcing, “The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings.”

In a separate involuntary manslaughter case, armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed was sentenced to 18-months in prison earlier this year upon facing trial.

Now, appearing on the Club Random podcast, Tarantino gave his thoughts on who responsible for the incident.

“It’s a situation I think I am being fair enough to say that the armourer, the guy who hands him the gun, is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun,” the director explained. “But the actor is 10% responsible.”

“The actor is 10% responsible. It’s a gun!” he reiterated. “You are a partner in the responsibility to some degree.” The filmmaker went on to suggest that Baldwin ought to have been aware of how to handle guns on a movie set, which might have prevented the live shots from being fired.

“If he went through the steps that he was supposed to go through like the barrel is clear, they show you the barrel is clear and that there is nothing wedged in there,” Tarantino said. “They actually show you the barrel. And then they show you some version of, ‘Here are the blanks and here is the gun.’ Now it’s ready to go.”

In the same conversation with podcast host Bill Maher, Tarantino explained why directors want real guns to be used during a film’s production despite the safety concerns. “I guess I can add digital erections to porno movies, but who wants to fucking watch that?” the director said. “It’s exciting to shoot the blanks and to see the orange, the real orange fire, not add orange fire.”

What exactly happened on the Rust set?

Last month, Baldwin’s manslaughter case was dismissed by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who also announced that it cannot be resubmitted. The ruling decreed that although Baldwin had broken the “cardinal rules” of firearm safety, he had “committed no crime” and did not pull the trigger of the gun.

In his interview with police immediately after the shooting, Baldwin talked the authorities them through what happened from his point of view. At the time, he’s unaware that his shooting of Hutchins was fatal and is talking openly about what went wrong.

“There’s supposed to be nothing there,” he explains, in reference to the replica single-action .45 Colt revolver he was holding in his hand when it fired. “And so when I shoot the gun, it’s only the rehearsal, I’m assuming I have an empty gun.”

Unbeknown to Baldwin, the gun contained live rounds, real bullets, one of which hit Hutchins under her right arm and then wounded Rust director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her. In fact, there were at least six live rounds later discovered on set, including some in a box marked ‘dummy rounds’.