Alec Baldwin’s trailer for controversial ‘Rust’ drops years after deadly on-set shooting
After a long road to release, the trailer for Alec Baldwin’s controversial movie “Rust” finally dropped on Wednesday.
The independent Western, which will hit theaters and digital on May 2, was mostly filmed in 2021, but the production was marred by tragedy.
Filming was stopped in October of that year when Baldwin fired a prop gun that was loaded with live rounds by mistake, killing 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin, 66, denied pulling the trigger.
The small movie made national headlines, and a yearslong legal battle ensued. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin were both being charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Gutierrez-Reed was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison, while the case against Baldwin was dismissed in July 2024.
In the movie, set in 1880s Kansas, Baldwin plays an outlaw named Harlan Rust who rescues a young orphan (Patrick Scott McDermott) who’s been sentenced to hang for murder.
“The only order that exists in this world is the order we impose,” a character, presumably Baldwin’s, says in the trailer that features violent shootouts in the wild West. “If man loses sight of that, he’s got nothin’.”
“Rust” had its world premiere in November at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland.
A critic for Vulture wrote that the movie has eerie parallels to its deadly path.
“‘Rust’ didn’t choose to echo its own tragedies, but they course through a film that is often compelling and capable, an appropriately unvarnished western tale about guilt, blame, family, law, and devotion,” they said.
Hutchins’ mother declined to attend the premiere.
“Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death,” the grieving parent said in a statement. “This is why I refuse to attend the festival for the promotion of ‘Rust,’ especially now when there is still no justice for my daughter.”
Baldwin, meanwhile, has been appearing on the Discovery channel reality TV show “The Baldwins,” alongside his wife Hilaria and their seven children.
