Alec Baldwin’s brother Billy defends Rust premiere – three years after Halyna Hutchins was killed during on-set shooting
Alec Baldwin’s brother Billy has voiced his support for the upcoming premiere of controversial film Rust.
The film will debut in November at the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage in Poland, some three years after the fatal shooting that took the life of cameraman Halyna Hutchins.
Billy, 61, shared his support for the film at the premiere of his project Americans With No Address in Los Angeles on Thursday evening.
“I think it’s great because I understand that it was the family’s wish that they could go there because they wanted the public to see her latest work,” the actor said. TMZ.
“They wanted to honor her by having her work completed and showing her work,” he said.
Billy Baldwin, 61, defended the decision to debut brother Alec’s film Rust at an international film festival in Poland next month. “My understanding is that it was the family’s wishes… they wanted the public to see her final work,” the actor told TMZ (pictured on October 3 in Los Angeles)
Production of the Western was halted in October 2021 when a prop gun held by 66-year-old Baldwin discharged, killing Hutchins, who was only 42.
Director Joel Souza was also injured in the incident and the film ultimately ended in May 2023.
According to TermUkrainian-born Halyna is said to have campaigned early in production to have the film screened on Camerimage, which honors international cinematographers.
Billy Baldwin will not be able to attend the Rust premiere.
He will be in Siena, Italy to promote a “cool indie arthouse film” starring Judd Nelson and Michael Madsen
It is currently unclear whether 66-year-old Alec will be present.
His involuntary manslaughter trial was dismissed in August after a judge ruled there had been misuse of evidence.
He asked the court to deny the prosecutor’s request to reconsider the dismissal.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed when a pistol containing live ammunition was fired on set (pictured in Park City in January 2018)
Alec Baldwin, 66, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but his case was dismissed in August when a judge ruled there had been misuse of evidence. It is unclear whether he will attend the premiere in Poland next month
Master of Arms Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 27, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison for misuse of the weapon (pictured in Santa Fe, NM in March)
The actor’s lawyers argue that prosecutors have not presented any new evidence in the case.
Master of Arms Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 27, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison for mishandling the weapon, which was not allowed to be loaded with live ammunition.
Earlier this month, a judge upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against Gutierrez-Reed in the fatal shooting of Hutchins.
Gutierrez-Reed asked a New Mexico court to throw out her conviction or call a new trial, saying prosecutors failed to share evidence that could have exonerated her in the shooting on the set of Rust.
However, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer explained in her written order that Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys had not shown that there was a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different had the evidence been available to her.
The judge also denied a request by Gutierrez-Reed for her release, denying the request for a new trial.
Gutierrez-Reed has an appeal of the conviction pending in a higher court. Jurors acquitted her of charges that she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation.
Prosecutors accused Gutierrez-Reed of unknowingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust” and failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.