SANTA FE, NM (AP) — Filming on the western ‘Rust’ could resume this week in Montana, the production company said Wednesday after the fatal shooting of a cameraman during a rehearsal with actor Alec Baldwin at the original production in New Mexico .
Baldwin will continue his acting and co-producing engagements, and Rust Move Productions attorney Melina Spadone said through a representative that filming will resume Thursday at the Yellowstone Film Ranch.
The production company last month reached a settlement with New Mexico safety officials over “serious” violations and agreed to a $100,000 fine to resolve a damning safety investigation detailing unheeded complaints and misfires on set before camerawoman Halyna Hutchins was shot dead in October 2021.
Plans to resume filming were outlined last year by widower Matthew Hutchins in a proposed settlement to a wrongful death lawsuit that would see him executive producer on a rebooted Rust.
Santa Fe prosecutors are advancing involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Baldwin and gun control agency Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have both pleaded not guilty.
Baldwin pointed a pistol at Hutchins during a rehearsal when the gun was off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin said the gun was accidentally fired and he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found that the gun could not have been fired had the trigger not been pulled.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a new $360,000 settlement this month for prosecuting the case. Evidence hearings are scheduled for early May in the state district court to decide whether to proceed with the trial. Baldwin has indicated that he will not be attending these hearings.
Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies says her office seeks justice in Hutchins’ death and wants to show that no one is above the law when it comes to firearms and public safety. She says the Ukrainian-born cameraman’s death was tragic and avoidable.
Security coordinator and deputy director of Rust, David Halls, pleaded in March not to appeal a conviction for unsafe firearm handling and a six-month suspended sentence.
Souza, the director, has announced that he will be returning to the Rust production to honor Halyna Hutchins’ legacy.
Parts of a documentary about the life of Hutchins will be filmed at the same time as “Rust”.