The film “Rust,” which has become synonymous with the fatal shooting of its cinematographer on the set in 2021, will be screened publicly for the first time in November at a Polish film festival dedicated to cinematography.
The festival, Camerimage, said on its website that the premiere would honor Halyna Hutchins, the 42-year-old cinematographer who died on Oct. 21, 2021, when the film’s star, Alec Baldwin, was rehearsing in front of the camera with an antique revolver that discharged a live bullet.
Hutchins’ husband, Matthew, and their son, who was 9 when she died, will benefit financially from the film’s release under the terms of a wrongful death settlement agreement. Filming resumed in 2023 without live weapons, and “Rust” writer-director Joel Souza, who was injured in the shooting, returned to helm the film through to completion.
“Rust” is a Western about a 13-year-old orphan boy who, after accidentally shooting a rancher, escapes a death sentence along with his outlaw grandfather, played by Baldwin. The final version of the film, which was initially shot outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, and completed in Montana, does not include the scene that Hutchins was working on when she was killed.
The decision to finish the film was somewhat controversial in the film industry, as production restarted during the legal proceedings involving Baldwin and the film’s original screenwriter, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded the gun with live ammunition before it was fired, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison. A judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin during her trial in July, saying the prosecution had withheld evidence.
The film has failed to take off at mainstream film festivals, but has been embraced by cinematography firm Camerimage. The festival said the premiere, in Torun, Poland, would include a panel discussion with Souza, Bianca Cline, the director of photography who took over after Hutchins’ death, and Stephen Lighthill, Hutchins’ mentor during her time at the American Film Institute’s Conservatory in Los Angeles.
“We knew that our event was important to her and that she felt at home among cinematographers from all over the world, who have been meeting at Camerimage for over 30 years,” said Marek Zydowicz, director of the festival.
The festival runs from November 16 to 23.
In addition to the criminal proceedings, the fatal shooting led to a series of civil lawsuits and a widespread re-evaluation in Hollywood of the use of live guns and ammunition on film and television sets.
Hutchins, an up-and-coming Ukrainian cinematographer, had caught Souza’s eye when the director saw the trailer for a superhero film she’d worked on, titled “Archenemy.” Impressed by her camera movement and subtle style, he thought of her when it came time to hire a cinematographer for “Rust,” on which he and Baldwin worked together from the beginning.
In an interview prior to the festival announcement, Souza said he had initially declined to return to directing the film following the fatal shooting, but was open to the idea when he learned that Hutchins’ husband wanted the film completed so audiences could see her final work. He ended up stepping in as an executive producer on the $8 million film as part of the settlement agreement.
“It was very important to me to finish it on her behalf,” Souza said. “I would never dare speak on behalf of someone who can no longer do it for herself, but I am sure that is what she would have wanted.”
At the time of the fatal shooting, “Rust” was nearly halfway through filming. The goal of the resumed production was to salvage as much of Hutchins’ original material as possible, something made more difficult when a couple of key actors did not return.
Souza says he and Cline assembled a jigsaw puzzle of old and new footage using editing tricks and, in some cases, special effects that replaced actors’ heads. The entire film runs more than two hours, Souza said, and about a third of the footage is Hutchins’.
Souza acknowledged that some in the film industry and audiences have been reticent about the decision to finish the film, noting that opposition from unions had been a major obstacle. But he stressed that the main goal was to preserve Hutchins’ work and benefit his family.
“No one came back to this project just to cash a check,” he said. “These were people who had a strong will to see Halyna’s vision through.”
Read more: At 69, Willem Dafoe Swept The Catwalk At Paris Fashion Week
