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Lawyers acting on behalf of the family of Halyna Hutchins have released an animated video they say recreates the fatal shooting of the cinematographer.
Hutchins was killed on the set of western movie Rust in October 2021 after being shot by actor Alec Baldwin; he maintains he did not pull the trigger of the gun and did not know it contained a live round.
The cinematographer’s family is now seeing Baldwin and ‘others who are responsible for safety on the set, and whose reckless behaviour and cost-cutting led to the senseless, tragic death of Halyna Hutchins’.
Attorney Brian Panish, representing Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, and their son, Andros, held a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday to announce the wrongful death lawsuit.
He claimed his firm uncovered multiple ‘violations of industry standards’ during an independent investigation.
Now the team of lawyers have released a 3D animation video, created by company DK Global, recreating Hutchins’ final moments and detailing how she was fatally shot.
The video shows the on-set chapel where the shooting took place, and depicts Baldwin being handed a gun.
Hutchins, director Joel Souza and another crew member can be seen, wearing masks, behind a camera which is directly in front of Baldwin.
In the video, Baldwin points the gun towards the camera – and towards the crew members – and shoots.
A live round goes off, and Hutching collapses to the ground. In the background, director Souza can be seen clutching his shoulder; he too was injured in the shooting but made a full recovery.
Since the shooting in October last year, Baldwin has maintained his innocence, saying that ‘someone’ was to blame for a live round being in the gun but not him.
He insists that Hutchins told him to aim the gun just off camera and in her direction and pull the hammer back, and that it fired when he let go.
In a video presented on Tuesday at the press conference, the Hutchins’ lawyers alleged that Baldwin had turned down training for the specific kind of gun draw he was filming that day on set.
It also references complaints of a ‘super unsafe’ set from workers after three alleged unsafe weapons discharges prior to Hutchins’ death.
It also claimed that Baldwin and the Rust production disregarded at least 15 industry standards, including failure to use a replica or rubber prop gun, failure to refrain from pointing a firearm at anyone, alleged failure to keep finger off the trigger, failure to have only qualified personnel inspect the weapon and failure to keep all personnel on set a safe distance from the weapon firing area.
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Producer and lead actor Baldwin, 63, was also required by industry standards to accept the revolver directly from or in the presence of the production’s armourer, rather than first assistant director David Halls.
Rust’s armourer was not present in the room, the investigation stated.
The lawyers’ investigation claimed that Rust’s cast and crew were only four feet away from Baldwin’s weapon, and industry standards require those in the line of fire had ‘protective glass or other personal protective equipment’.
Remote operation of the camera should also have been required if Baldwin ever aimed the gun at the camera.
In response to the lawsuit, a lawyer for Baldwin and other producers of Rust released a statement, seen by Sky News, where he said they were cooperating fully with authorities and denied any negligence.
‘Any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false,’ lawyer Aaron Dyer said.
‘He, Halyna and the rest of the crew relied on the statement by the two professionals responsible for checking the gun that it was a ‘cold gun’ – meaning there is no possibility of a discharge, blank or otherwise.’
The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages, including punitive damages.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to reps for Alec Baldwin for comment.
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