Alec Baldwin has spoken publicly about the moment he learned cinematographer Halyna Hutchins had died on the set of the film Rust, in a trailer released this Thursday for a new documentary tracing his life after the fatal shooting.
The documentary, directed by Rory Kennedy and titled The Trial of Alec Baldwin, opens with the 911 call reporting an accidental shooting on set, an incident that also left the film's director, Joel Souza, injured.
Baldwin said that when he was told Hutchins had died, he went into shock and could not believe it. The trailer shows footage of him on the set at the time, speaking on the phone with his hands on his head.
Inside the documentary
The film also examines the arrival of the press at the set and how Baldwin's reputation shaped media coverage of the shooting and of the criminal case that followed, after he was charged with involuntary manslaughter.
In one moment shown in the trailer, a person is heard asking Baldwin how it feels to have killed someone by accident, as the actor asks them to step away.
The Rust shooting and legal battle
The shooting happened in October 2021 during a rehearsal for Rust, when Baldwin pointed a prop gun loaded with a live round at Hutchins, fatally wounding her. The incident set off one of the most closely followed legal battles in Hollywood.
A trial held in July 2024 ended with the case against Baldwin being permanently dismissed, after it emerged that prosecutors had withheld evidence. Baldwin had faced up to 18 months in prison had he been convicted.
Other charges tied to the case
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armorer, who was responsible for loading the pistol that killed Hutchins, was found guilty in March and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Assistant director David Halls accepted a misdemeanor charge as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
Who's involved
Baldwin is an actor and producer with a decades-long career in film and television, best known for the sitcom 30 Rock and his recurring impression of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. He has faced sustained public scrutiny since the shooting on Rust.
Hutchins was a cinematographer who had worked on a string of independent films before her death on the set of Rust, a low-budget Western. Kennedy, the documentary's director, is a filmmaker known for a body of nonfiction work and is the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
Documentary release
At the end of the trailer, Baldwin said that anyone who watches the documentary will see him at his worst moments. The Trial of Alec Baldwin is scheduled to premiere in theaters on October 16.
