(Los Angeles) “Like a hit in the shoulder with a baseball bat”: Rust director Joel Souza told a US court on Friday about the moment when a gun belonging to actor Alec Baldwin injured him and killed the cameraman.
Posted at 7:03 p.m.
The story was told during the trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for handling the weapons in this low-budget western.
The filming turned into a drama in October 2021 on a ranch in New Mexico, a state in the southwest of the USA. Alec Baldwin, also a producer on the film, had aimed a revolver that was supposed to contain only blank bullets, but a very real projectile had killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured the director.
PHOTO EDDIE MOORE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rust director Joel Souza
On the witness stand Friday, Joel Souza recounted his confusion when he took a real bullet in the shoulder. “There was a huge 'thud,'” he said, “I felt like a baseball bat hit me in the shoulder.”
The defendant, gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, appeared “disturbed” at the time, he said. “I remember her saying 'Sorry, I'm sorry, Joel,' and I remember someone yelling at her” before she was thrown out, he told the court.
On Thursday, footage shown during the trial showed actor Alec Baldwin gesticulating on set with a gun in his hand, firing empty bullets from the chain and urging the gunsmith to reload her guns faster.
An expert called to the witness stand also denounced a lax attitude towards security within the film crew on Thursday.
One of the central questions is how a very deadly cartridge ended up on the set of Rust.
The 26-year-old gunsmith is charged with manslaughter, a crime punishable by 18 months in prison. She denies the allegations.
Alec Baldwin is being prosecuted on the same charge, but will face a separate trial in July. The 65-year-old actor denies pulling the trigger and has always maintained that he was assured his weapon was harmless.