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Script Supervisor On Set of Alec Baldwin Movie ‘Rust’ Says He Intentionally Fired Gun

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Actor Alec Baldwin could be in a ton of legal jeopardy if what has been alleged in a lawsuit about the shooting on the set of his movie “Rust” is correct.

A script supervisor working on the movie said that she witnessed the actor intentionally point and fire the weapon at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, The New York Post reported.

“I saw Alec going through his movement with the gun for the camera,” Mamie Mitchell, the script supervisor on set and the person who called 911 on Oct. 21, said.

“I was holding my script in my left hand and had taken out my iPhone and opened up my photos to check the continuity on his shirt and vest.,” the script supervisor said. “Then an explosion. Deafening loud gunshot.”

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“I was stunned. I heard someone moaning and I turned around and my director was falling backwards and holding his upper body and I turned around toward Alec and saw Halyna going down to the left of me,” she said.

“Alec Baldwin intentionally, without just cause or excuse, cocked and fired and loaded gun even though the upcoming scene to be filmed did not call for the cocking and firing of a firearm,” she said.

Hanna Gutierrez-Reed, who was the armorer on the “Rust” set, is also named as a defendant in the suit against the actor and the movie production company.

During a press conference Wednesday in Los Angeles, her attorney, Gloria Allred,  said there were warning signs of the dangerous conditions on the set related to guns just days before the Oct. 21 shooting. She said a camera operator reported there were two gun discharges during a rehearsal in one of the cabin shots. The camera operator allegedly told a production manager in a text, “This is super unsafe,” Allred said.

The attorney added the events that led to the shooting does not constitute “simple negligence” because Baldwin, the producers and others were “reckless” by not following strict guidelines when it comes to having live ammunition and guns on a set.  

In the complaint, Mitchell said Baldwin, “being an industry veteran,” should have known that a Prop Master or an Armorer is the only person who should hand him a gun. Mitchell said the Assistant Director should not have handed Baldwin the gun, and that the actor should’ve known that he could not rely on the Assistant Director’s representation that it was a “cold gun.” 

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“I relive the shooting and sound of the explosion from the gun over and over again,” she said.

“I am depressed. I don’t feel safe. I feel that at any moment anything could happen to me and to those that I care about that are standing close to me. I do not have a sense of guardrails in my life to keep me safe. I’m frightened of the future. This violent tragedy has taken away the joy in my life,” she said.

This comes after Serge Svetnoy, the key gaffer for “Rust,” announced that he is suing Baldwin and others involved with the movie following the tragic killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Svetnoy alleges in his lawsuit that the scene that Baldwin was shooting on that fateful day did not require him to “fire” the weapon.

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“Svetnoy’s general-negligence complaint, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, names the producers, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, first assistant director Dave Halls, property master Sarah Zachry and weapons provider Seth Kenney as defendants. The suit was filed in Los Angeles because Svetnoy and at least one of the producers live in L.A.,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

“The bullet fired by Baldwin from a .45 Colt revolver ‘narrowly missed him,’ according to Svetnoy’s suit. He was ‘no more than six to seven feet’ from Baldwin when the gun went off ‘suddenly and completely unexpectedly,’ the suit said, adding that Svetnoy ‘felt a strange and terrifying whoosh of what felt like pressurized air.’ He was struck by “discharge materials from the blast,’ the complaint said,” the report added.

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