Ugh, Alec Baldwin’s behavior trying to dodge liability in the Rust shooting is coming off as so slimy now.
We never thought we’d see him stoop so low as to feud with Halyna Hutchins’s widower, but the actor started lashing out after Matthew Hutchins filed a wrongful death lawsuit against him. He even started throwing shade after Matthew gave an interview on the Today Show. It’s sad, but at this point we’re less and less surprised as he continues to point fingers everywhere but himself.
Yes, even though he was a producer, on top of the call sheet, and the person who wielded and shot the gun that killed Halyna, the 30 Rock alum is now claiming that his contract “protected him from financial responsibility in her death,” according to the New York Times. On Friday, Alec filed an arbitration demand against his fellow Rust producers, and even went so far as to demand the production pay his legal fees.
Even worse, these legal docs seem to try to pass off some of the blame on to HALYNA for the shooting! The arbitration (obtained by the NY Times) described the cinematographer’s actions moments before shooting:
“She directed Baldwin to hold the gun higher, to a point where it was directed toward her. She was looking carefully at the monitor and then at Baldwin, and then back again, as she gave these instructions. In giving and following these instructions, Hutchins and Baldwin shared a core, vital belief: that the gun was ‘cold’ and contained no live rounds.”
According to the docs, the Emmy winner then asked if Halyna wanted him to “pull back the hammer” as was written in the script, and she said yes. The docs stated:
“Baldwin then pulled back the hammer, but not far enough to actually cock the gun. When Baldwin let go of the hammer, the gun went off.”
His lawyers insist Alec was “shocked” when he discovered that he had fired a live bullet, which he didn’t find out until the end of his interview with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office after the incident.
Apparently, there’s a clause in the 63-year-old’s contract with Rust Movie Productions L.L.C. that absolves him of financial responsibility for legal fees or claims arising out of the death. Per the Times, his lawyer Luke Nikas stated:
“Someone is culpable for chambering the live round that led to this horrific tragedy, and it is someone other than Baldwin. This is a rare instance when the system broke down, and someone should be held legally culpable for the tragic consequences. That person is not Alec Baldwin.”
According to Niklas, Alec had argued in favor of finishing the film after the shooting, “outlining a plan in which an insurance payout and the film’s profits would go to a settlement for Mr. Hutchins and the couple’s 9-year-old son.” Of course, that didn’t happen.
The filing reiterated the story he told about meeting Matthew Hutchins for the first time (“Hutchins hugged Baldwin and told him, ‘I guess we’re going to go through this together.’”) and even reproduced text messages the two exchanged in the aftermath. In these texts, Matthew had apparently agreed to stay in contact with Alec against “the likely wishes of his legal advisers and press representative.”
The docs characterize their correspondence:
“Before Hutchins’s appearance on the ‘Today’ show, his interactions with Baldwin had only been polite, collaborative, and, at times, even warm.”
Of course, Matthew isn’t the only one who gets thrown under the bus. According to the docs, Mamie Mitchell (a script supervisor who filed a suit against Alec and other producers) actually said to him shortly after the shooting:
“You realize you’re not responsible for any of what happened in there, don’t you?”
Further, the filing claims armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed specifically told the star that “it was her job to check the gun — not his.” He also denied accusations about a lack of gun training, asserting that he had “inquired about lessons about a month before he showed up on set and that he had training once he had arrived.”
The docs reiterated another one of Alec’s oft-repeated arguments:
“An actor cannot rule that a gun is safe. That is the responsibility of other people on the set.”
We have know idea how this mess will be untangled legally. But we do think that Alec’s self-victimizing, belligerent press tour has just made things worse. If he had handled matters privately and respectfully with those who were grieving, we might have viewed this arbitration differently. After all, he’s just sharing his side of things. In light of his feud with the widower, though, it just seems like another disappointingly self-serving move.
What do YOU think, Perezcious readers?
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