(Los Angeles) Alec Baldwin has said he does not feel guilty or even “responsible” for the death of a filmmaker on the set of Rust, claiming that he had not fired the fatal revolver and that it was not his responsibility to verify that the weapon he was handling was harmless.
“I have a feeling that someone is responsible for what happened and I can’t tell who it is, but I know it’s not me,” the actor said in his first interview. formal since the drama of October 21, broadcast Thursday evening by the American channel ABC.
“I could kill myself if I thought I was responsible”, launches Alec Baldwin, very moved during this interview and weeping several times when mentioning the death of the director of photography Halyna Hutchins on the set of this western in Santa Fe (New- Mexico).
Alec Baldwin maintains that he never pulled the trigger on the revolver with which he was working a scene and says he has “no idea” of how live ammunition could have been on the film set and “got into the revolver. “.
He explained that Mme Hutchins was giving him instructions on how to hold his gun during this rehearsal. “I hold the gun where she tells me to hold it […]. I start to cock the dog. I’m not going to pull the trigger. I release the dog and the shot goes, ”says Alec Baldwin.
The actor, who is also one of the producers of the low-budget western, points out that the weapon he was given was supposed to be completely harmless: “I was told that I was given an empty revolver” .
Responding to film professionals reproaching him for not having himself verified the harmlessness of the weapon, he explained that he trusted the professionals who surrounded him and that it was not his responsibility to proceed himself. even to such checks.
Halyna Hutchins “and I had this in common: we both thought the gun was empty,” he insists.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the gunsmith who was responsible for the guns on the set of Rust, admitted in a statement to investigators that she had been negligent in checking the gun just before the tragedy.
The police investigation is continuing and, if no arrests have taken place, criminal prosecution is not excluded in the event that responsibilities are established, the Santa Fe prosecutor’s office stressed.
Baldwin said he worked with investigators and had “nothing to hide” but said he “was highly unlikely to be charged with criminal charges.” However, as a producer of Rust, by two civil complaints of technicians working on the film and expects the husband of Halyna Hutchins to do the same.
If he does not feel responsible, he says he would “do anything” to avoid such a tragedy.
“I do not imagine again shooting a film where there is a weapon”, loose Alec Baldwin.