It’s hard to find a film with a more troubled production than the Alec Baldwin-ledRust. Few had likely heard of the movie while it was in preproduction, though it quickly rose to national news after the infamous 2021 shooting incident. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot when Baldwin discharged a live gun intended to be used as a prop. Director Joel Souza was also injured. Production immediately shut down to deal with the intense fallout involving numerous lawsuits and arrests. You may think that would cause the film to cease entirely. Nope. In the midst of confusion over whether Baldwin would be charged, production resumed in April 2023 and wrapped in May.
Currently, there’s no release date attached, but we have to ask the question of why.Rustisn’t some blockbuster franchise pic, and Alec Baldwin lost much of whatever public goodwill he had left after the incident. Several cast and crew members also did not return to the production restart. So what makes this all worth it? Given the mountains of controversy surrounding this pic, does it have any chance of success? Let’s look at what we know aboutRustand how the public may react to its eventual release.
Background
With everything going on, it’s easy to forgetRustwas just a simple movie with aclassic Western premiseat the start. Set in the 1880s, Baldwin stars as the outlaw Harland Rust. In hiding for years, Rust reemerges when his 13-year-old grandson is framed for a murder he didn’t commit. Rust helps his grandson escape, and the two outrun bounty hunters and U.S. Marshals as fugitives. That’s about it. It sounds like a pretty by-the-numbers Western that may have seen moderate success with Baldwin’s name attached.
That all changed on July 02, 2025. Filming in New Mexico, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot after Baldwin fired a gun used as a prop. Hutchins was rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Director Joel Souza, who was hit in the shoulder, was treated and released. Baldwin claimed he did not pull the trigger, though later reports stated the gun wouldn’t fire unless the trigger were pulled. Production ceased, and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office opened a criminal investigation that same day. The investigation expanded outward, with the FBI soon becoming involved. Claims of on-set sabotage were made, though there was no evidence to back that up.
Legal Proceedings
After a year of investigation, Baldwinwas formally chargedwith involuntary manslaughter in January 2023. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer responsible for on-set firearm safety, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter. Baldwin later had his charge reduced, and he pled not guilty in February. Assistant director David Halls also pled no contest to negligent use of a firearm, receiving only probation, fines, and community service.
In April,prosecutors dropped all chargesagainst Baldwin, though Gutierrez-Reed’s remained. In June, a second charge of tampering with evidence was added to her case after prosecutors determined she attempted to hide a bag of cocaine in her possession on the night of the shooting. Her trial is scheduled to begin in February 2024.
Related:Alec Baldwin Allegedly Skipped Mandatory Firearm Safety Training Sessions Before Fatal Rust Shooting
Several civil lawsuits were filed, including by Gutierrez-Reed against the prop gun manufacturer for allegedly bringing the live rounds on set. Halyna Hutchins' family filed awrongful death suitnaming Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed, and several others as co-defendants. The suit was settled in October 2022.
Aftermath and Public Outcry
In late 2022,Rust’s production team set January 2023 as a production return date. That proved tricky when several cast and crew members were still under criminal investigation. While some crew members supported the restart, ostensibly tohonor the late Hutchins, others backed out of the return.
Actors Brady Noon and Jensen Ackles exited, reportedly due to “scheduling conflicts,” and were replaced. Filming finally resumed in April, with Baldwin returning to the set ofRustthe exact same day his criminal charges for shooting someone on the set ofRustwere dropped. Isn’t that poetic? Finally, filming on possibly the most controversial movie in recent memory wrapped in May.
Related:Alec Baldwin Remembers Halyna Hutchins One Year After Rust Tragedy
With everything going on, many are asking why. With dozens of ongoing civil and criminal cases, why return to this project? No disrespect to director Souza, but he’s not exactly a household name. Any massive success would have been unlikely. An admitted passion project for Baldwin; perhaps he was just committed to seeing his vision through. That excuse is not holding up in the court of public opinion.
Baldwin immediately became the face of the tragedy as the biggest name involved with the production. The incident didn’t exactly help his bad-tempered reputation. The outspoken liberal Baldwin found particular ire with conservative media, which painted him as a cold-blooded killer. Some blamed Gutierrez-Reed, whoseresponsibility as the armorerwas to clear the gun’s safety. Others said Baldwin himself should have ensured the gun had no live rounds before he fired, though he maintains he did not pull the trigger.
Marketing this film independent of the shooting will be next to impossible. No matter how much press or anticipation about the storyline builds ahead of release, that is not what people will talk about.Rustwill never escape the controversy, and there’s nothing more they can do. In this case, no pre-release buildup could actually be a good thing. The best that distributor The Avenue can hope for is a quiet release with little buzz so that they can all move on from this disaster of a production.
