Wednesday Western: 'The Old Way' (2023)



“It wasn’t in the script for the trigger to be pulled,” said George Stephanopoulus.

"Well, the trigger wasn't pulled," replied Alec Baldwin. “I didn't pull the trigger.”

“So you never pulled the trigger?” asked Stephanopoulus.

“Oh no, no, no,” Baldwin insisted. “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them — never.”

The character Colton Briggs weeps through the body of Nicolas Cage. His brokenness is palpable, as he and his daughter confront the realities of death.

It was a fabrication so bold that even Stephanopoulus saw through it. The interview was huge news at the time: an exclusive with Baldwin a month and a half after the shooting on the set of the Western “Rust.”

A preventable death

Baldwin had been mostly silent. Or at least he didn’t give any interviews. We’d become acquainted with the photos of him sobbing on the set after the tragic accident.

We’ll get into the entire story in a future entry. For now, what matters is that a 24-year-old named Hannah Gutierrez was the armorer for “Rust.” That meant she was responsible for all of the guns on the set, including the replica Colt .45 that Baldwin haphazardly fired, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Hannah Gutierrez had been fast-tracked to the position, thanks to her highly connected stepdad. “Rust” was only her second movie as an armorer. Her first was the Nicolas Cage film “The Old Way."

She had raised red flags during filming. On two occasions, she fired a gun near cast members without warning. The second time, Cage shouted, “Make an announcement! You just blew my f***ing eardrums out!” then stormed off the set.

Shortly after the film wrapped, Gutierrez appeared on the “Voices of the West” podcast, crowing that “The Old Way” was a “really badass way” to launch her Hollywood career. She also described the process of loading ammo as “the scariest thing.”

The fatal shooting on the set of "Rust" was a little more than a month away.

She added: “You know, I was really nervous about it at first, and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but, doing it, like, it went really smoothly. The best part about my job is just showing people who are normally kind of freaked out by guns how safe they can be and how they’re not really problematic unless put in the wrong hands.”

Do you believe that anything happens without the will of God?

Cage begins “The Old Way,” his first Western, with a whopper of mustache.

Oddly, the film is exactly what you would expect from a low-budget Western from 2023 starring Nicolas Cage. To make it all the weirder, you can find it on Disney+.

Right out of the gate, we’ve got a man struggling to escape a noose as a preacher delivers a sermon, declaring, “Do you believe that anything happens without the will of God?”

Ominous figures loom in the shadows.

Cage plays Colton Briggs, a gunfighter who has to avenge his wife, and he’ll have to team up with his 12-year-old daughter to do it. This journey will bring them to — ah, what am I saying, none of this is interesting or new.

This movie is trash. I mean, it’s great to have on in the background. It’s relaxing. But it’s basically a hodgepodge of Western archetypes and tropes.

The centerpiece of the film is the father-daughter relationship. But Cage has played better fathers. Check out his performance in the suprisingly good animated film "The Croods" and its sequel.

The critical response to “The Old Way” seems apathetic and cold until you watch the movie.

The New York Times review is probably the most savage:

"The Old Way" is a cheap, run-of-the-mill western, which is an appealing quality … with Nicolas Cage sleepwalking through his role as the ruthless Montana cowboy Colton Briggs, roused from gunslinging retirement by a lackluster quest for revenge. … It’s a distinctly low-effort affair across the board, from the simplistic plotting (our heroes chase the bad guys, then find them) to Cage’s performance, absent any of the self-aware wit he demonstrated in last year's "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent." And while it’s true that a certain tepid aspect is common to most B westerns, those of the ’30s and ’40s were made with a baseline competence that "The Old Way" is woefully lacking.

Where you can find it

Disney+

Hulu

Amazon Prime - $3.99

Google Play - $3.99

AppleTV - $5.99

But still …

First, come on, guys, this is Nicolas Cage.

Second, the reviewers are absolutely right.

And, third, they’re also being lazy. “The Old Way” isn’t entirely awful. The cinematography is gorgeous; the sets are huge and elaborate.

But “The Old Way” wouldn’t appear in this series without Cage at its core. It’s a mediocre film, full of stereotypes and tropes that were maybe never original to begin with. It lacks the creative brilliance, the psychedelic flourishes that cascade throughout “Slow West” (2015), not to mention the special effects and storytelling.

The music resembles an AI attempt at a generic Western soundtrack. The plot is equally stilted and uneventful. The dialogue is paunchy and awkward — Cage flatly rushes his lines for much of the movie, while some of the other actors get too dramatic. Which is not their fault: The characters are uninspired. The themes are broad.

But with Nicolas Cage holding the reins , these failures are trifling or at least amusing.

Nouveau shamanic

People are drawn to Nic Cage because he delivers a costumed, ornamental version of Nic Cage. Nobody else talks or scowls or laughs like he does, the king of reaction shots. His career has all the variety of a mid-range buffet, a magnet for hangovers.

He has delivered some objectively stellar performances — “Adaptation” (2002), “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995), and “Raising Arizona” (1987).

But his cinematic mastery involves far more than great acting in the traditional sense. His prolific career, consisting of more than 100 movies, resembles a waterfall of brilliance and spam.

He played Benjamin Franklin Gates in the “National Treasure” series. He is Ghost Rider. Can you imagine any other actor being able to shape-shift so dramatically?

He doesn’t always make this transformation. Sometimes, in “The Old Way” for instance, he seems to phone it in. But even this is a spectacle worth beholding. You still get to watch Nicolas Cage navigate his craft, even if the movie is a stinker.

New York Times magazine described him as “Hollywood’s greatest surrealist, whose personal and creative unpredictability has led him to attain near-mythological status in certain corners of the internet.”

He’s so iconic that he has his own style of acting: nouveau shamanic, a process of surrender that Cage views as an authentic alternative to the traditional method of acting, which he views as deception: “I don’t act. I feel and I imagine and I channel.”

The goal of nouveau shamanic is to follow impulses. This wildness of heart and eagerness to explore the depths of the subconscious mind resonate with iconic director David Lynch, who characterized Cage as "the jazz musician of American acting."

Ethan Hawke has lauded Cage’s ingenuity, describing him as "the only actor since Marlon Brando that's actually done anything new with the art of acting."

Nouveau shamanic often results in “mega-acting,” an approach that some viewers and critics have interpreted as showy overacting. This assumption is a mistake. It forswears the possibility of a kind of cinematic enlightenment.

You can see it in Werner Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” (2009). Cage let his inner turmoil spill into the derangement of an unhinged police lieutenant who spirals into drug abuse and corruption — of every kind.

In “Matchstick Men” (2003), he unleashed the painstaking impulses of a con artist stricken with OCD. Cage really lets the pathologies breathe.

Done with acting

Nic Cage is pure Hollywood. He credits James Dean with inspiring him to begin an acting career — without needing to mention the fact that his actual last name is Coppola, as in “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “American Graffiti.”

Cage has appeared in big-budget movies and no-budget movies and every level in between.

Here’s a typical Cage paradigm: He shuffles through highbrow and lowbrow, sometimes all at once. After winning an Oscar for his portrayal of a suicidal alcoholic writer in “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995), he landed a string of empty yet lovable blockbusters.

They were all approximations of cinema. Pure blockbuster. Full of overacting done in total earnestness. We loved every moment of it. This string of films is now coded into the American experience.

He played gaudy characters, excessively makeupped and badly costumed. And he owned the big screen in the late 1990s — “The Rock” (1996), “Face/Off” (1997), “Con Air” (1997), “City of Angels” (1998), “Snake Eyes” (1998), “8MM” (1999), and who could forget his frantic yet cool appearance in “Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000)?

None of those films saw the slightest hint of critical acclaim.

It’s not until recently that his performances have earned him praise again. He has been sharp, with “Mandy” (2018), “Pig” (2021), and “Dream Scenario” (2023), all of which are lower-budget endeavors by independent production companies with lots of clout, including highbrow darling A24, which distributed “Dream Scenario."

In the “Western Movies Today” episode of the “How the West Was Cast” podcast, co-host Andrew Patrick Nelson points out that modern Westerns are made largely as passion projects and often with the intent of winning awards.

Compare this to the Western at its height, when over a hundred Westerns came out each year. In that same period, none of them won Best Picture. Westerns only really started winning Oscars after the genre had supposedly collapsed.

“The Old Way” doesn’t quite fit either paradigm, but for good reason.

I know I've disparaged the film for most of this article, but “The Old Way” does have at least one standout moment of cinematic brilliance.

An hour into the movie, there’s this lovely campfire scene. The setting is reminiscent of the powerful scene in “True Grit” (1969), when Rooster finally tells Mattie his story.

Briggs faces his daughter, surrounded by night, and unburdens his sorrow, the loss of his true love, crying for the first time. And the tears are genuine. The character Colton Briggs weeps through the body of Nicolas Cage. His brokenness is palpable, as he and his daughter confront the realities of death.

It’s the fullest example we get of Cage’s acting method. It’s just enough to inspire hope that there will be more Nicolas Cage Westerns in the future.

Late last year, Cage told Vanity Fair that he was done with acting: “I may have three or four more movies left in me.”

He said that after appearing in six films — some of his best work to date — in 2023 alone.

He has also since appeared in three additional films, including “Longlegs” (2024), with another three in various stages of production, including “The Gunslingers,” his second Western.

Still, it’s hard to forget what he said to Vanity Fair: ”I do feel I’ve said what I’ve had to say with cinema. I think I took film performance as far as I could. … I do want to get much more severe and stringent in my selection process. … I want to say ‘Bye’ on a high note.”

But who knows?

Who knows where Nicolas Cage’s performance starts and ends, how far it extends beyond the spectacle and mania of his presence on screen? Who knows if there are even limits to what he feels and channels and imagines?

Alec Baldwin's defense team says even if he pulled the trigger on 'Rust' set, 'that doesn't make him guilty'



Alec Baldwin's defense team said that even if he did pull the trigger on the set of "Rust," he wouldn't be guilty of homicide.

Baldwin's team has been adamant throughout court proceedings he did not pull the trigger when the gun went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie.

However, the 66-year-old's defense attorney Alex Spiro said in his opening statement for Baldwin's manslaughter trial that Baldwin may be wrong and may have pulled the trigger. This was the first time that the team alluded to this as a possibility, reports show. Spiro also argued though that this fact would still not make Baldwin criminally negligent.

"On a movie set, you're allowed to pull the trigger," Spiro said, per Variety. "Even if he intentionally pulled the trigger ... that doesn't make him guilty of homicide."

Baldwin himself has previously denied ever pulling the trigger, claiming instead that the gun malfunctioned.

'If he did, of course, that would only make his statement incorrect.'

As Blaze News reported, the FBI claimed it was not possible for the gun to fire without the trigger pull, but the agency was blamed by Baldwin's defense for breaking the gun during its testing. An FBI examiner hit the gun with a mallet to see if it would accidentally fire from the force and broke three components of the gun.

Lucien Haag, a firearms expert who examined the Colt .45 used by Baldwin, testified that the gun was indeed working properly before the FBI analyzed it. Haag also testified that the live rounds used on the set of "Rust" were "hand loaded," meaning they were made by an individual rather than a manufacturer.

The latter was integral in the trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armorer. She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter but acquitted of a lesser charge of tampering with evidence. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

David Halls, the first assistant director on "Rust," pled no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon and has been sentenced to probation.

The prosecution reportedly intends to attempt to prove Baldwin did pull the trigger, stating that numerous firearm experts will testify that the gun was working properly when Baldwin allegedly fired it.

Baldwin's defense argued, however, that the owner's manual of that particular model of gun — Colt .45 pistol — states that the gun can go off if the hammer is dropped on a live primer.

At the same time, attorney Spiro also reportedly urged jurors to acquit Baldwin even if it is found that he did pull the trigger.

"If he did, of course, that would only make his statement incorrect," the lawyer said. "That would mean he would have misspoke."

Even if he did misspeak, Spiro continued, it still wasn't Baldwin's fault that a real bullet was loaded into the gun.

"When this issue [is] discussed, it's easy to sort of pull yourself into courtroom-land and away from a movie set," the attorney theorized. "[Baldwin] did not know, or have any reason to know, that the gun was loaded with a live bullet. That's the key. That live bullet is the key. That is the lethal element."

The prosecution is bringing in gun manufacturer Alessandro Pietta from Italy to inform jurors about quality-control measures. Pietta's company made the gun in question, according to the Sante Fe New Mexican.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Armorer on 'Rust' set gets maximum sentence for fatal shooting involving actor Alec Baldwin



The armorer on the set of "Rust" back in October 2021 when 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed has been given the maximum sentence.

Last month, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter but acquitted of a lesser charge of tampering with evidence, Blaze News previously reported. As armorer, Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for checking the safety of all ammunition and guns on set. She was also the person who loaded a live round into the weapon that fired the fatal shot.

Gutierrez-Reed, who was just 24 at the time of the shooting, sobbed throughout her sentencing hearing on Monday. Her attorney, Jason Bowles, had requested that she be given conditional release along with counseling, claiming she was a "scapegoat" for the shooting and insisting she "has endured and will continue to endure collateral consequences far harsher than most defendants ever must face."

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey stated she might have been persuaded to recommend a lighter sentence for this "unprecedented case" — until she found out Gutierrez-Reed had apparently been referring to jurors as "idiots" and "a**h***s" on recent phone calls from jail.

In addition, reports indicate that while awaiting trial, Gutierrez-Reed violated the conditions of her release by drinking alcohol. She also allegedly misled prosecutors about her work history and encouraged her mother to confront them in the bathroom at court, the New York Post reported.

Gutierrez-Reed "continues to deny responsibility and blame others," prosecutors explained in a letter last week.

"It was my sincere hope during this process that there would be some moment when Ms. Gutierrez took responsibility and expressed some level of remorse that was genuine. That moment has never come. Ms. Gutierrez continues to refuse to take responsibility for her role in the death of Halyna Hutchins," Morrissey said at the hearing.

District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer agreed, sentencing Gutierrez-Reed to 18 months in prison, the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the state of New Mexico, where "Rust" was filmed. "You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon," the judge told the defendant. "But for you, a husband would have his wife and a little boy would have his mother."

Bowles previously indicated that the defense intends to appeal. Gutierrez-Reed has remained behind bars since her conviction.

Several of Hutchins' loved ones gave impact statements at the hearing, explaining how the loss continues to affect their lives. Emilia Mendieta, one of Hutchins' closest friends, blamed Hutchins' death on "a massive system failure," of which Gutierrez-Reed was a part. "Why was there a live bullet on set? … That is where Hannah Gutierrez-Reed failed Halyna. It was her job to check the gun, check the bullets, to ensure that Halyna was safe," she said.

According to family friend Steven Metz, Matt Hutchins, Halyna's widower, "basically ... died" when his wife died. "There is really no excuse [for her death]," he added.

Actor Alec Baldwin also faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the case. Though all evidence suggests he fired the shot that killed Hutchins, Baldwin denies ever pulling the trigger, claiming instead that the gun malfunctioned. His trial is scheduled for July.

David Halls, the first assistant director on "Rust," pled no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon and has been sentenced to probation.

Filming of "Rust" was placed on hold following the shooting, but it was eventually completed. No release date has been announced. As part of the settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit, Matthew Hutchins was named an executive producer.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'Rust' armorer found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after loading live bullet into Alec Baldwin's gun on movie set



The armorer for the movie "Rust," who was deemed responsible for the bullet that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

A jury decided that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was indeed guilty when she loaded a live bullet into Alec Baldwin's Colt .45 pistol on the set of the movie. The gun was meant to contain only dummy rounds.

Baldwin fired the pistol while rehearsing, killing Hutchins.

Gutierrez-Reed faces a sentence of up to 18 months in prison, but her sentencing is not expected until April 2024, Variety reported. She was acquitted of a different charge of tampering with evidence, however.

Defense attorney Jason Bowles had argued that Gutierrez-Reed has been smeared and scapegoated, the New York Post reported. He attempted to convince the jury that management was to blame for failing to give Gutierrez-Reed adequate time to do her job, which included checking the dummy rounds for safety.

During the trial, jurors were shown a police interview with Gutierrez-Reed from November 2021 during which she said she used dummies on "Rust" that were actually left over from a previous movie, "The Old Way," which Gutierrez-Reed had worked on a few weeks earlier.

"I went back through a bag that I had," the armorer said in the interview. "This bag had a bunch of loose dummies in it. I went through and I checked all of them, and I put them into two boxes. … They were in my car for like two weeks," she added.

Later in the interview, Gutierrez-Reed said that she typically shakes each dummy round to see if it rattles, which is reportedly a safety feature that lets users know the rounds can't be fired.

"I am shaking all of them most of the time," Gutierrez Reed said, words that were highlighted by the prosecution.

Producers testified against the armorer, saying she never requested additional time and disregarded a logging system to make sure the weapons were being attended to properly, TMZ stated.

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey argued in her closing statement that Gutierrez-Reed's actions showed an "astonishing" failure to adhere to safety protocols and that she never properly tested the rounds.

"The evidence wasn’t sufficient to convict," defense attorney Bowles said after the trial. "It was a lot of guesswork, a lot of speculation," he added. The lawyer said he would appeal the verdict.

Gutierrez-Reed got the job in large part due to her father, Thell Reed, according to Variety. Thell Reed is a legendary film armorer who has worked on movies like "3:10 to Yuma."

While he was not called to testify, he was mentioned by ammunition supplier Seth Kenney, who was accused by the defense of supplying the ammunition for the movie.

Kenney reportedly asserted that Gutierrez-Reed and her father were trying to claim that "the live ammunition on the set of Rust … somehow came through" him, Deadline reported.

"Knowing Thell and having been friends with him for a few years at that point, I know how much he loves his daughter," Kenney said of the 81-year-old.

Alec Baldwin will face a manslaughter trial in July 2024.

He has maintained that he did not pull the trigger, with his defense questioning whether the gun was functioning properly at the time of the shooting.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'Rust' armorer said she checked dummy rounds 'most of the time' as defense still blames Alec Baldwin for negligence



The armorer for the movie "Rust" was revealed to have stated in an interview that the dummy rounds she had on-set were from a previous film she worked on, noting that she checks all of the dummy rounds "most of the time."

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is on trial for involuntary manslaughter stemming from the death of Halyna Hutchins, a cinematographer who was killed after Alec Baldwin fired a gun on the set of "Rust" that was supposed to have dummy rounds in it but instead had a live round.

Gutierrez-Reed, who was 24 at the time, has been accused by the prosecution of bringing a box of dummies that had multiple live rounds in it. She loaded the gun Baldwin used.

Jurors were shown a police interview with Gutierrez-Reed from November 2021 during which she said she used dummies on "Rust" that were actually left over from a previous movie, "The Old Way," a Western action film with Nicolas Cage. Gutierrez-Reed had worked on the film a few weeks earlier.

"I went back through a bag that I had," the armorer said in the interview, Variety reported. "This bag had a bunch of loose dummies in it. I went through and I checked all of them, and I put them into two boxes. … They were in my car for like two weeks," she added.

Later in the interview, Gutierrez-Reed said that she typically shakes each dummy round to see if it rattles, which is reportedly a safety feature that lets users know the rounds can't be fired.

"I am shaking all of them most of the time," Gutierrez Reed, using words that were highlighted by the prosecution.

"Most of the time," prosecutor Kari Morrissey emphasized to the jury.

Gutierrez-Reed faces more than 18 months in prison if convicted. Her defense has maintained that she was not responsible for bringing the live bullets onto the set and has blamed the movie's gun and ammunition supplier, Seth Kenney.

Attorney Jason Bowles has argued that Gutierrez-Reed has been smeared and scapegoated, the New York Post reported.

Actor Alec Baldwin will face trial in July 2024 for involuntary manslaughter charges. He has maintained that he did not pull the trigger, with his defense questioning whether the gun was functioning properly at the time of the shooting.

While the FBI claimed it was not possible for the gun to fire without the trigger pull, the FBI was blamed by Baldwin's defense for breaking the gun during its testing. An FBI examiner hit the gun with a mallet to see if it would accidentally fire from the force and broke three components of the gun.

Lucien Haag, a firearms expert who examined the Colt .45 used by Baldwin, testified that the live rounds used on the set of "Rust" were "hand loaded." Meaning, they were made by an individual, rather than a manufacturer.

Haag testified that the gun was indeed working properly before the FBI analyzed it.

Gutierrez-Reed's defense lawyers have not disputed the gun's functionality but have blamed Baldwin for negligently pulling the trigger.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Armorer who loaded gun for Alec Baldwin was offered 'favorable' outcome if she explained how live ammunition got on set



The armorer for the film "Rust" was offered a "favorable" outcome by the prosecutor if she was able to explain how live ammunition made it on to the set of the movie. The live rounds were ultimately given to actor Alec Baldwin before he fired a gun that killed a cinematographer.

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed faces up to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence in connection to the death of Halyna Hutchins, cinematographer for the movie "Rust." Hutchins was shot by Baldwin while preparing for a scene when he pulled the trigger on a gun that was supposed to have "dummy rounds," Variety reported.

Gutierrez Reed was reportedly warned that if she refused to provide information as to where the real bullets came from, she would face additional charges. Detectives had asked the woman why there was live ammunition on the set, to which she replied "I have no idea."

Several other live rounds were also reportedly recovered from the scene, but their origins are still unknown.

Kari Morrissey, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, reportedly told the defense lawyer in September 2023 that she believed Gutierrez Reed knew more about the incident than she was willing to say.

"I feel very strongly she has some notion of how the live rounds came on set," Morrissey wrote. "I certainly respect her right not to come forward with that information and to stay silent, however if she were to come forward and answer some of these questions that plague the victims in this case that would go a long way toward getting her a favorable resolution."

"If she chooses not to ... while I respect her decision, I will proceed with the additional felony charges we spoke of," Morrissey added.

Just over two weeks later, Gutierrez Reed was indicted on a charge for carrying a firearm in a liquor establishment, a fourth-degree felony, after allegedly bringing a gun into a bar in October 2021. This was less than two weeks after the "Rust" incident.

Evidence for the charge allegedly stemmed from a search of pictures and data on Gutierrez Reed's phone, which was turned over to authorities in relation to the shooting incident.

Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, has taken all the aforementioned actions as a misappropriation of authority. Bowles reportedly saw the offer of a "favorable" outcome as a method by prosecutors to invoke a false confession.

The lawyer has also sought to have the additional charges dismissed and argued that they were filed vindictively as a retaliation.

"This is an extremely rare case in which we have a statement of the prosecutor’s motive behind charging," Bowles wrote. "That charge was solely designed to pressure Ms. Gutierrez Reed into giving up her Fifth Amendment right to silence (to provide information she didn’t have) or face felony criminal prosecution on a totally unrelated charge."

Bowles had also argued that the prosecutor's scope was meant to be limited to the "Rust" case and that she was operating outside her authority when she charged Gutierrez Reed for the gun possession.

Alec Baldwin\xe2\x80\x99s reaction when he was told that cinematographer Halyna Hutchins had passed away after she was accidentally shot with a live round discharged from a revolver used as a prop by the actor.
— (@)

Actor Baldwin was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, but charges were dropped in April 2023.

Prosecutor Morrissey said that "additional facts have come to light" that warranted charges against the actor, but though she claimed the charges would be brought within two months, nothing materialized.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Alec Baldwin Gets The Best Justice Money Can Buy

Prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Baldwin, while his working-class employees take the fall, proving we have two systems of justice.

Prosecutors To Charge Alec Baldwin With Involuntary Manslaughter Over ‘Rust’ Shooting

New Mexico prosecutors unveiled involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin on Thursday over a fatal on-set shooting.

Alec Baldwin takes aim at 'Rust' crew members with lawsuit, seeks to hold them 'accountable for their misconduct' after he fatally shot a mother on set



Alec Baldwin, apparently keen to further displace blame and liability for the accidental 2021 shooting death of Halyna Hutchins, has filed a lawsuit against several crew members working on the scandal-plagued film "Rust."

The 64-year-old gun-control activist, who is himself accused in another lawsuit of "recklessly" firing the prop weapon, asserted in his complaint that the film's armorer, its first assistant director, and others failed to maintain safety on set.

The actor's complaint

The shooting took place on Oct. 21, 2021, during the filming of a low-rent western in New Mexico.

Baldwin was allegedly practicing drawing a vintage Colt revolver, which he believed to have been loaded with dummy rounds, when he unwittingly discharged a real bullet. According to the Wrap, the Colt was used by crew members earlier that day for live-ammunition target practice.

The errant bullet hit 42-year-old mother and cinematographer Haylyna Hutchens in the chest and struck director Joel Souza in the clavicle.

After being shot by the Democrat actor, Hutchins' last words were reportedly, "That was no good. That was no good at all."

Baldwin's lawsuit filed on Friday names the following crew members as defendants:

  • Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer in charge of handling firearms and ammo on set — accused to have failed to check the gun or ammo carefully;
  • Dave Halls, the first assistant director, who handed the gun to Baldwin and allegedly said it was safe — accused of failing to check the gun properly;
  • Sarah Zachry, the prop master — accused of failing in her duties to ensure gun and ammo safety on set; and
  • Seth Kenney, reportedly the key supplier of firearms and ammo to the set.

The New York Times reported that Baldwin's lawyer, Luke Nikas, wrote in the complaint that these individuals had not fulfilled their professional duty to maintain safety on the set of "Rust."

According to the lawsuit, "This tragedy happened because live bullets were delivered to the set and loaded into the gun."

Nikas wrote, “Gutierrez-Reed failed to check the bullets or the gun carefully, Halls failed to check the gun carefully and yet announced the gun was safe before handing it to Baldwin, and Zachry failed to disclose that Gutierrez-Reed had been acting recklessly off set and was a safety risk to those around her."

The lawsuit also cited an FBI report indicating that live bullets were scattered around the set, and were even contained within the bandoleer Baldwin had been wearing when he accidentally shot Hutchins.

According to the New York Post, the actor's aim with this lawsuit is to "clear his name" and hold the defendants "accountable for their misconduct."

Like the actor, those named in Baldwin's lawsuit have similarly denied culpability for the 42-year-old mother's slaying.

On Oct. 27, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office submitted its final investigative report into the shooting to the Santa Fe County District Attorney's Office. District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has yet to announce whether her office will file criminal charges.

Although Baldwin reached an undisclosed settlement with her family, a spokesman for Carmack-Altwies made clear that the settlement "in Matthew Hutchins’ wrongful death case against Rust movie producers, including Alec Baldwin, in the death of Halyna Hutchins will have no impact on District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis' ongoing investigation or her ultimate decision whether to file criminal charges in the case."

Hollywood blame game

Mamie Mitchell, a script supervisor on "Rust," had been standing just feet away from the gun-control activist when he accidentally shot the cinematographer and director. Mitchell filed a lawsuit against Baldwin and others involved with the film, claiming that the incident caused her "sustained serious physical trauma and shock and injury to her nervous system and person."

Mitchell's lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claimed, "Alec Baldwin intentionally, without just cause or excuse, cocked and fired the loaded gun even though the upcoming scene to be filmed did not call for the cocking and firing of a firearm."

Nikas tried to have his client, Baldwin, dismissed from the lawsuit, but Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Whitaker denied the motion earlier this month.

The New York Times reported that Serge Svetnoy, a gaffer on the film, also filed a lawsuit last year accusing Baldwin and several crew members of failing to follow safety protocols.

Svetnoy's lawsuit alleged that Baldwin acted negligently and had failed to check that the Colt "was indeed 'cold'" before practicing with it. Additionally, the lawsuit noted that Baldwin was duty-bound to handle the weapon "as if it was loaded and to refrain from pointing it at anyone."

Prosecutor speaks out after Alec Baldwin, 'Rust' production reach settlement: 'No one is above the law'



A New Mexico prosecutor spoke out Wednesday after Alec Baldwin and producers of "Rust" announced a settlement with Halyna Hutchins’ family.

What about the settlement?

After Hutchins was killed on the set of "Rust" last October, Hutchins' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and other key members of the "Rust" production.

The exact details of the settlement were not disclosed. But as part of the deal, Hutchins' widower, Matthew Hutchins, will executive-produce "Rust" when production resumes in January 2023.

Hutchins said in a statement:

We have reached a settlement, subject to court approval, for our wrongful death case against the producers of "Rust," including Alec Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions, LLC. As part of that settlement, our case will be dismissed The filming of "Rust," which I will now executive-produce, will resume with all the original principal players on board in January 2023.

What did the prosecutor say?

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies made clear the settlement will not deter her from completing her criminal investigation.

"The proposed settlement announced today in Matthew Hutchins’ wrongful death case against Rust movie producers, including Alec Baldwin, in the death of Halyna Hutchins will have no impact on District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis' ongoing investigation or her ultimate decision whether to file criminal charges in the case," a spokesperson for the DA said in a statement.

"While civil suits are settled privately and often involve financial awards, criminal cases deal only in facts. If the facts and evidence warrant criminal charges under New Mexico law then charges will be brought," the statement continued.

"No one is above the law," the statement declared.

Anything else?

Last month, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that Carmack-Altwies could be preparing criminal charges against Baldwin after she requested more money from the state to help her office prosecute up to four criminal cases in the matter.

"One of the possible defendants is well known movie actor Alec Baldwin," documents filed by the DA said.

The prosecutor, however, is not saying much beyond that. But her office did tell the New Mexican that Carmack-Altwies is "certainly looking at all the homicide statutes and any gun statutes under New Mexico criminal code."

Meanwhile, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed last month that his agency is continuing to investigate Hutchins' death and will turn over the case file to the prosecutor's office once the investigation is complete.