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A judge decided on Monday that footage from a documentary about the making of the movie Rust, the beleaguered production where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot dead in 2021, will not be allowed as evidence in the prosecution of Alec Baldwin, according to Variety. Baldwin, whom prosecutors claim fired the fatal bullet, will be standing trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico for involuntary manslaughter next month. He faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted.
Filmmaker Rory Kennedy, whose Last Days in Vietnam was nominated for the Best Feature-length Documentary Oscar in 2015, has been making a film about Baldwin and the shooting, which she began work on about a year after the incident.
Prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Erlinda Johnson had subpoenaed the doc’s interviews with potential witnesses, including Baldwin. Variety reports that the attorneys believed the film contained “critical pieces of information concerning key elements of this criminal prosecution.” Baldwin’s lawyers and Kennedy’s production company, Moxie Films, have denied that he had “commissioned” the film.
Calling the subpoena “an impermissible fishing expedition,” Moxie filed a motion to stop the prosecutors, citing the California Shield Law, which protects journalists. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office capitulated, and an L.A. judge ordered that the subpoena be “recalled, vacated, and set aside.”
The prosecution, which withdrew a misdemeanor plea deal after learning Baldwin was participating in Kennedy’s film, has been able to obtain other footage, including on-set documentation by the production and the film itself.
The shooting occurred in October 2021. The prosecutors claim Baldwin allegedly acted negligently when he fired a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin’s lawyers claim he didn’t pull the trigger and that it wasn’t his responsibility to verify the weapon contained a blank.
A jury convicted Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, Rust’s armorer, of loading a real bullet into the gun in March. The official footage, shown during Gutierrez Reed’s trial, included a clip in which Baldwin yelled, “Reload,” at her.
