Baldwin ‘to remove himself from public eye’

ACTOR ‘CANCELS ALL PROJECTS’ AFTER PROP GUN SHOOTING TRAGEDY ON WESTERN MOVIE SET

ALEC BALDWIN has reportedly cancelled all other projects and is planning to step back from the public eye after he accidentally fired a loaded prop gun on set, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

An investigation was today continuing into Thursday’s shooting of Ms Hutchins, 42, the director of photography on the Western film Rust, near Santa Fe in New Mexico. She was airlifted to hospital but was later pronounced dead. Director Joel Souza, 48, was also injured but later discharged from hospital.

Today, sources close to Baldwin, 63, who was the lead actor and producer of the film, said he was looking “to take some time to himself and re-centre himself”. The same source told People Magazine Baldwin was “hysterical and absolutely inconsolable for hours” after the accident and was now planning to “remove himself” from the public eye.

“This was pretty devastating,” the source said. “This is how he handles difficult times. Whenever something bad happens, in the short term, he

He was hysterical and absolutely inconsolable. He’ll take some time to himself and re-centre himself Source close to Baldwin

removes himself from [the] public eye.”

It came as more details of the accident began to emerge. A camera operator told investigators that Baldwin had been careful with weapons. Court records show cameraman Reid

Russell told a detective that the actor was rehearsing a scene on Thursday in which he was to draw his gun while sitting in a church pew and point it at the camera.

The camera was not rolling when the gun went off, killing Ms Hutchins, Mr Russell told police.

Meanwhile the assistant director who unwittingly handed Baldwin the gun was said to be the subject of a historic complaint about his conduct on a different set. Maggie Goll, a prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician, said she filed an internal complaint about assistant director Dave Halls with the executive producers of Hulu’s Into the Dark TV series in 2019 over concerns about his conduct. Ms Goll alleged Mr Halls disregarded safety protocols and even tried to continue filming after the supervising pyrotechnician lost consciousness on set.

“This situation is not about Dave Halls... It’s in no way one person’s fault,” Ms Goll said. “It’s a bigger conversation about safety on set and what we are trying to achieve with that culture.” Halls had by this morning yet to comment on the claims.

The film’s chief electrician Serge Svetnoy blamed producers for Ms Hutchins’ death in a Facebook post yesterday.

Mr Svetnoy said he had worked with her on multiple films and blamed “negligence and unprofessionalism” among those handling weapons on the set. He also claimed producers had hired an inexperienced armourer.

Sources told the Daily Beast that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the 24-year-old armourer on set, was “a bit careless with the guns, waving it around every now and again”. She has yet to comment since the tragedy but has removed several social media accounts after images emerged of her holding guns.

A candlelit vigil was last night held for Ms Hutchins in Burbank, near Hollywood Hills. It came a day after Baldwin was seen supporting the cinematographer’s grieving husband and nine-yearold son. Baldwin expressed “shock and sadness” over the death, calling Ms Hutchins a “deeply admired colleague” on Twitter.

A crew member today said filming of Rust was unlikely to resume.