“Rust” director Joel Souza has given his first interview about the shooting that occurred on set in October 2021, where a prop gun held by star Alec Baldwin fired a live bullet that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and seriously injured Souza. Speaking to Vanity Fair , Souza opened up about the experience of being shot, deciding to finish the film and why he and Baldwin now have “no relationship.”
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“It’s bizarre to have been shot,” Souza said. “And then, who was holding the gun? That’s bizarre. I had this weird thought, like, ‘God, I remember watching ”The Hunt for Red October’ in the movie theater when I was a kid. It’s like your older self whispers to your younger self, ‘Hey, that guy…someday…’”
Souza was standing behind Hutchins directing a scene when the gun fired, hitting Hutchins in the chest and striking Souza in the shoulder. He told Vanity Fair that the gun shot “felt like a horse kicked me in the shoulder or someone hit me with a bat.”
“The whole right side of my body went numb, completely numb, but it also hurt excruciatingly at the same time, if that makes sense,” he continued. “It’s just like everything went tingly and numb but hurt like hell all at once. And I staggered back and was either on my knees or on my ass — and just…yelling. I don’t even know what the hell I was yelling.”
Souza said the bullet “missed my lung by this much. It stopped about that far away from my spine, fortunately. It was bulging out into the skin, so it created a big bump.”
When interviewer Anthony Breznican commented that Souza must have been very grateful to be alive, the director responded: “No, I wasn’t.”
“I remember specifically going to sleep that night and hoping I didn’t wake up the next morning,” he continued. “I hoped I would just bleed out overnight because I didn’t want to be around anymore. It was a very difficult moment. I remember just thinking, Maybe I’ll just sort of bleed to death — that would suit me just fine.”
The shooting spurred a series of legal cases that only just came to a close last month. First assistant director Dave Halls agreed to a plea bargain for a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and will serve 18 months in prison and Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case was dismissed on July 12 when the judge found authorities had withheld evidence. Does Souza think justice was served?
“I don’t know, and I don’t know what that even is anymore — I’ll be very honest with you about that,” Souza said. “No one feels good about someone going to jail. If you feel good about that, take a hard look in the mirror.”
As for his opinion on Baldwin being charged with involuntary manslaughter, Souza said he understands both sides of the argument but ultimately doesn’t hold an opinion.
“Does it matter if I think it’s fair or not? There is an argument that says, if he checks it and starts fiddling around with it, he’s creating a safety issue. And then there is another thing that says, it’s common sense, Jesus Christ. Be careful with this goddamn thing,” he told Vanity Fair . “So I don’t know anymore, to be honest with you. The charges got filed. That’s what they decided to do. Was he overcharged? I don’t know.”
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Despite the tragedy that unfolded, Souza still decided to return to set to finish the film after the shooting. For a while, Souza rejected the idea, even saying that “there was a very long period of time where I thought I was just done ever doing this for a living.” But being able to protect Hutchins’ legacy changed his mind.
“I knew that the movie being finished would financially benefit Halyna’s family, which is very important to me,” he said. “And I know this can sound trite for people who aren’t creative, but her last work matters. People seeing her last work matters. That was the tipping point for me in the decision.”
A new cinematographer from Hutchins’ circle, Biana Cline, took over and the scene that was being filmed when the fatal shooting occurred was cut entirely.
“Everything needed to be entirely reconceived there,” Souza said. “There were a few things that came before that now wouldn’t make story sense. So we just sort of eliminated it and came up with something entirely different … I don’t want anyone who ever does see this to be waiting for that. No one ever pushed to keep anything like that.”
When asked what his relationship with Baldwin was like during that second shoot, Souza said: “Getting through it was tough. We got through it. I got the performance I wanted. We’re not friends. We’re not enemies. There’s no relationship.”
Representatives for Baldwin did not immediately respond to Variety ‘s request for comment.
“Rust” has been finished since March, Souza said, adding that it has yet to be shopped to distributors contrary to some reports. But when the film does eventually get released, Souza hopes the audience’s biggest takeaway is Hutchins’ talent as opposed to the tragedy that took her life.
“As a cinematographer, Halyna should have been out of my reach if this business made any sense, but it doesn’t,” Souza said. “She should have been doing big studio movies. She should have outgrown a movie the size of ours. She should have been doing $100 million movies, not $7.5 million movies. Anybody who worked with her knew what she had and what she was.”
Head over to Vanity Fair’s website to read the full interview with Souza.
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