Film Examines Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ Death on ‘Rust’ Set

Alec Baldwin is seen in a still from ‘Rust’ (left) and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was killed on the film set (right)

A new Hulu documentary examines the day that cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on set of Alex Baldwin’s movie Rust

Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna is set to premiere March 11 on Hulu. The documentary will focus on Hutchins and the “untold human story” of her death in 2021 from the perspective of the people on the set of Rust.

Directed and produced by Rachel Mason — who was a friend of the late cinematographer — Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna promises to “take viewers inside that tragic day and its aftermath, told first-hand by many of the people who lived it.”

The film will weave together witness accounts and include behind-the-scenes material from Rust, court records, and Hutchins’ personal archives.

“Halyna was dear to me for many reasons,” Mason says in a press release. “In the media frenzy which followed her death, it felt as if Halyna was erased, her loss eclipsed by the surrounding controversies.”

“Our film aims to keep her at the center, while offering a portrait of the experience of those with whom she spent her final 12 days, which hopefully, through their efforts, offers the world a very much unfinished portrait of Halyna.”

In October 2021, Baldwin was rehearsing on the Rust movie set in New Mexico with a gun that was not supposed to contain live ammunition.

However, the actor’s gun suddenly fired a live round, killing Rust’s cinematographer Hutchins and injuring the western film’s director Joel Souza.

In March last year, a New Mexico grand jury found Rust’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Hutchins. The weapons handler loaded Baldwin’s gun on the set before it fired and killed the cinematographer.

A few months later, a New Mexico judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin in the fatal shooting of Hutchins. The case was dismissed on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to turn over evidence and Baldwin is now suing the New Mexico prosecutors over the dismissed trial.

Hutchins was originally from Ukraine and earned a graduate degree in international journalism from Kyiv National University. She also attended the American Film Institute and was recognized as one of American Cinematographer’s Rising Stars of 2019. She worked on more than 30 feature-length films, short films, and TV miniseries, including the films Archenemy, Darlin’, and Blindfire.

Rust had its worldwide premiere at the Camerimage international cinematography film festival in Toruń, Poland in November to honor Hutchins’ work.

 
Image credits: Header photo via Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office (left) and Wikimedia Commons (right) .