Five months after Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin on the set of the indie Western, the Oscars tonight acknowledged her passing and the tragedy that caused it.
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Similar to the spotlight put on the death of Midnight Rider second camera assistant Sarah Jones in 2014, Hutchins tribute appeared in the 94th Academy Awards’ In Memoriam segment. The 42-year old Ukrainian filmmaker was featured early in the traditional segment. Hutchins was fifth after past Oscar winners Sidney Poitier, Olympia Dukakis, William, Hurt, and Stephen Sondheim.
Hutchins was killed by a live round in a prop gun discharged by Baldwin on Oct. 21, 2021 on the set of Rust at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Sante Fe, New Mexico. “I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in a Dec. 2 interview. The Aviator and The Marrying Man actor also told Stephanopoulos, “I have been told by people who are in the know, in terms of even inside the state, that it’s highly unlikely that I would be charged with anything criminally.”
“The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me,” Matt Hutchins, Halyna’s husband told Today‘s Hoda Kotb in an interview from February 24. “Watching him I just felt so angry,” the now widower went on to say to Kotb. “I was just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her.”
Following several other lawsuits for various Rust crew members, the Hutchins estate filed a wrongful death suit against Baldwin, other producers and more last month. The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office has not charged or arrested anyone as their investigation of what actually occurred on October 21 continues.
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