“Rust” will be completed, despite the film’s legal troubles following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set in 2021.
On Thursday, the Santa Fe County District Attorney’s Office in New Mexico announced that producer-star Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, are being charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case.
But according to both People and The New York Times, sources say production is still set to resume in order to complete the film, with director Joel Souza, who was also shot in the incident, returning.
Plans to finish production on the troubled film were in place following a settlement struck last year over a wrongful-death lawsuit against Baldwin, filed by Hutchins husband, Matthew, who will serve as executive producer.
The shooting, which happened on Oct. 21, 2021, occurred when Baldwin was using a prop gun that had been improperly loaded with a live bullet during a rehearsal take.
After the charges were announced on Thursday, a lawyer for Baldwin said the planned prosecution “represents a terrible miscarriage of justice” and assured that the actor would be exonerated.
The lawyer did not immediately respond to questions about whether production on the film would resume as intended.
Following the settlement, it was reported that returning to New Mexico for filming was out of the question, with reports that locations in California were under consideration.
Along with Souza returning as director, the set will also use on-set safety supervisors and union crew members, and working weapons or any form of live ammunition, including blanks, will be barred.
Hutchins’ husband has spoken out on occasion about the case, telling NBC’s “Today” show of Baldwin’s claims that he bore no responsibility for the incident, “The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me.”
After the settlement was reached, Matthew said in a statement that he had “no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame,” adding that “all of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident.”
He was supportive, though, of the decision by prosecutors to charge Baldwin this week.
“It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law,” Matthew’s lawyer said in a statement. “We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law.”
