Alec Baldwin Talked About The Fatal Shooting Of Halyna Hutchins During An Impromptu Press Conference With The Paps
It’s been a little over a week since cinematography Halyna Hutchins died after Alec Baldwin shot her with a gun he reportedly thought was “cold” (meaning the gun had no live ammunition in it) during a rehearsal on the set of the western Rust in Santa Fe, NM. Shortly after the horrible accident, Alec tweeted that he was heartbroken and was offering support to Halyna’s husband Matthew Hutchins and their son. Alec’s also been retweeting articles about how he was told the gun was “cold” before it was handed to him. Alec has been in Vermont with his wife Hilaria Baldwin and their six children, and TMZ says that the paparazzi have been on their asses like naranja on Spanish rice. So Alec decided to give them a little something to get them off of him since his children were crying in the car. So Alec gave a roadside press conference that was equal parts awkward and weird. Hilaria joined Alec and acted as his bodyguard/publicist/lawyer and while filming the paps on her phone, she repeatedly tried to jump in to either tell Alec to shush or to answer a question for him. And sometimes when Hilaria jumped in, Alec snapped at her to step off. How do you say in English… cringeworthy?
There are several investigations into the accidental shooting that left Halyna Hutchins dead and injured director Joel Souza. But from what we’ve heard, the assistant director of Rust, Dave Halls, grabbed a gun off of a prop cart and shouted “cold gun” before handing it to Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal with the camera crew. The gun had a live round in it. The District Attorney has already said that there’s a possibility that criminal charges will be filed. With his retweets, Alec seems to be putting the blame on Dave Halls and head armorer Hannah Guitterez-Reed. And Hannah is putting the blame on producers (Alec is also a producer) for having live rounds on set. But during Alec’s press conference with the paps, he made it clear that he could not talk about the investigation at all. And when he moved from talk to the investigation to talk about his relationship with Halyna Hutchins, Hilaria tried to drop some CALLARTE on him but he wasn’t having it.
“I’m not allowed to make any comments because it’s an ongoing investigation. I’ve been ordered by the Sheriff’s Department in Santa Fe. I can’t answer any questions about the investigation. I can’t. It’s an active investigation in terms of a woman dying. She was my friend. She was my friend. The day I arrived in Santa Fe to start shooting, I took her to dinner with Joel the director. We were a very very -*Hilaria steps in* – Excuse me. We were a very very well-oiled crew shooting a film together and then this horrible event happened. Now, I’ve been told multiple times, don’t make any comments about the ongoing investigation. And I can’t. I can’t. What other questions do you have other than that?”
“‘Well-oiled crew…’ That’s not what we heard,” said everyone.
When a pap tried to remember Halyna Hutchins’ name while asking Alec a question about meeting with her family, Hilaria checked his ass by saying, “Halyna. Her name is Halyna. If you’re spending this much time waiting for us, you should know her name! …and my name is Hilaria, silencioso on el H.” No, she didn’t say that last part, but she did tell the paps to stop asking about details, to which Alec awkwardly shooed her away again.
Alec said that Halyna’s husband is overwhelmed with grief and that they’re waiting for the results of the Sheriff’s investigation. Alec said he can’t say if he’d ever work on a set with firearms on it again, but he kept trying to paint the picture that Halyna’s death was a rare accident and was a “one in a trillion event.” Alec then went on about how billions of bullets have gone off on film sets, nearly without incident, throughout the past 75 years. But Alec did say that because of Halyna’s tragic death, there needs to be some changes.
“What has to happen now is we have to realize that when it does go wrong, and it’s this horrible catastrophic thing, some new measured have to take place. Rubber guns, plastic guns, no live – that’s not for me to decide. It’s urgent, it’s URGENT that you understand that I’m not an expert in this field, so whatever other people decide is the best way to go in terms of protecting people’s safety on film sets, I’m all in favor of and I will cooperate with that in any way I can.”
Alec then said that he doesn’t think production on Rust will ever start up again. And when a pap asked why they chose Vermont to hide out in, Hilaria piped in with “that’s private” and Alec tried to shush her AGAIN before agreeing with her. But I guess if you’re a member of the tabloid press and your journalist fedora doesn’t have a card with the words “The New York Post” tucked into it, Hilaria isn’t giving you shit. Because she later talked to The New York Post and said that after the news about the shooting on Rust came out, she put her kids in the SUV and just drove around until they ended up in Manchester, Vermont. Hilaria added that she brought Alec to Vermont to mourn Halyna’s death and that she’s trying to “limit the PTSD” since he obviously went through a traumatic event.
Here is the entire awkward scene:
Another thing I noticed is that several cars just zip on by. Whenever I’m driving and anything out of the ordinary is happening on the side of the road, cars will slow down to nosy lookie-loo speeds. But I guess when you’re driving down a road and you see Alec Baldwin, Hilaria Baldwin, and a group of paps in front of you, you realize that’s a recipe for nope and keep going.
Pic: YouTube