The husband of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is speaking out after she was shot to death on the New Mexico set of a Western movie featuring Alec Baldwin in an incident that has stirred debate about gun safety in films.
“Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words,” Matt Hutchins wrote on Twitter. “Our loss is enormous.”
Baldwin discharged a prop gun that killed Hutchins, 42, considered a rising star in the cinematography world, and injured the film’s director, Joel Souza, 48, on Thursday on the set of Rust at Bonanza Creek Ranch. Police are still investigating how the incident happened, but court records indicate an assistant director handed Baldwin a prop gun that he told the actor was “cold,” or unloaded.
The assistant director “did not know live rounds were in” one of the three guns set aside on a cart for filming before Baldwin fired the gun, striking Hutchins in the chest and Souza in the shoulder, according to court records obtained by the Associated Press, New York Times and Santa Fe Reporter on Friday. The document does not answer how the live round ended up in the gun.
A distraught Baldwin repeatedly asked why he was given a “hot gun” after his prop weapon discharged on the New Mexico film set of Rust, The New York Post reported.
“In all my years, I’ve never been handed a hot gun,” the actor allegedly kept saying, according to reports.
According to the court records, the film’s armourer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set the gun on a cart outside a building where a scene was underway, the AP reported. Assistant director Dave Halls allegedly grabbed the gun and took it to Baldwin, not aware that there were live rounds. Neither Gutierrez nor Halls could be reached for comment early on Saturday.
In a recent podcast interview, Gutierrez, going by the name Hannah Reed, described working as head armourer for the first time in a film featuring Nicolas Cage. The 24-year-old said that as the daughter of Thell Reed, a well known Hollywood armourer, she had grown up around guns, though admitted she felt anxious about her first time as head armourer.
“I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure I was ready,” she said. “But doing it, it went very smoothly.”
In the aftermath of the shooting, some directors have begun calling on the industry to stop using firearms on set – including prop guns filled with blanks. Some filmmakers insist on using such weapons, saying they more closely capture the sound and look of a gun firing than computer-generated imaging, while others point out that they still pose a danger.
Alexi Hawley, a showrunner for the popular ABC police drama The Rookie, told executives the production won’t be using “live” weapons on set anymore, according to a memo sent to staff and obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. Instead, the series will use Airsoft guns while adding computer-generated muzzle flashes in post-production.
“The safety of our cast and crew is too important,” he wrote. “Any risk is too much risk.”
No charges have been filed and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office says an investigation remains “open and active.” Meanwhile, film directors and actors who worked with Hutchins have shared tributes, with Baldwin saying his “heart is broken” for her family.
“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” he wrote on Twitter.
In his tribute posted to social media, Matt Hutchins shared a photo of his wife and their young son, smiling while posing in front of a wooded area with a creek.
“We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life,” he wrote.
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