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The day after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died after being accidentally shot on the set of the indie film Rust, her husband Matthew had a request for Halyna’s friend and filmmaking collaborator, Rachel Mason: “Make a movie about Halyna’s life.”
“He mentioned it on that day, coming off a list of things he needed to take care of that were really horrible, like planning her funeral,” Mason tells Rolling Stone. “It took a while for me to acknowledge the reality of any of it. [But] when Matt’s request became real and I understood how real it was, that’s when I started to plant the seed of, how do we actually do this?”
In 2021, Hutchins was shot with a live bullet fired from actor Alec Baldwin’s prop gun. The incident ultimately led to two criminal trials: Charges of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin were dismissed after the judge claimed state prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense; and the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Mason spent the last few years interviewing Rust crew members, experts in crew safety, and prosecutors, as well as immersing herself in the details of the case. Those interviews, combined with her unlimited access to Hutchins’ text messages, personal photos and videos, and other behind-the-scenes footage, resulted in Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna (now streaming on Hulu). The documentary examines what happened leading up to the tragic shooting and follows the fallout in real time.
Mason spoke to Rolling Stone about her experience making the film, how some Rust crew members have reacted to it, and why there need to be more safety precautions on sets across the entertainment industry.
How did the documentary evolve over time, from when Halyna’s husband Matthew Hutchins first approached you until its release?
In many ways, it followed a real-time unfolding story of learning and understanding what really happened [on Rust]. When I first started it, none of the investigations existed in any capacity that I could access. Initially the concept was: How do I make a film about Halyna that focuses on her life? That was my goal, to look at her films, look at all the things I could from her archives, and try to craft a film that focused on her life.
But the problem for me was that I needed to understand what happened. Why did she die? Her death was so overwhelming, horrible, and so confusing. How could this happen? It wasn’t just me, the public had questions as well. As I started working on the film, more and more things came to light. The sheriffs released lots of information, a criminal trial happened, and Matt eventually sanctioned the completion of the film Rust. We had to follow all of these different things which feed into the film.
In the documentary, we hear crew members talking about how “Every set I’ve ever been on, there’s never enough time and never enough money, you’re always working against the clock.” How does this lead to safety issues?
I can’t tell you how horrified I am every time I have read of another person who died on a set. There was a guy here in L.A. [J.C. “Spike” Osorio], not long after Halyna died, who fell to his death in a well-established studio. It wasn’t independent at all, it was a Marvel production. And I was also in touch with David Holmes, who is fully paralyzed. He was catapulted against the wall in a Harry Potter production. It’s horrible to realize that each and every incident [on set] that injured somebody or killed somebody has a set of variables that’s not that different from the set of variables on Rust, with the exception that this was a gun, and it’s more salacious when you know that there’s a gun. A fall seems like an accident, but why wasn’t somebody monitoring the guy before he was climbing up this thing, or why was there a potential safety hazard on the actual structure that led to him falling? If you could analyze each and every thing about it, you could say that climbing at a certain height is just as dangerous as having a gun pointed at you.
A shocking reality is that the armory profession is super safe. What happened to Halyna is a very rare incident, to the point it’s not just rare, it’s unheard of. The armory profession has an impeccable safety record. I’ve spoken to some of the top armorers in the country and they take extreme pride in their work, as well they should. So you think about this one incident and it has all of the makings of this great headline-grabbing story, because there’s a celebrity holding a gun with a live bullet in it, and the two top people on the slate — the director and the director of photography — are the ones that you know the bullet went through. It’s this incredible, almost made-for-entertainment story. But just because these other stories aren’t as salacious or headline-grabbing doesn’t make the outcome any less tragic.
An investigator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also poses the question in the documentary: “Are we pushing production over people’s safety in favor of money?” What do you make of that?
Anytime things are moving fast, it’s going to cause a potential for something to go wrong. It really does require somebody saying, “We actually have to slow down.” One of the things I love in our film is when we see [Rust’s new] armorer Andy Wert describe his process of armoring, he uses that expression: He says, “I have to take a minute to slow down.” Depending on what particular department you’re in, whoever is dealing with something where there might be a safety issue should absolutely demand the right to slow down. There has to be an allowance for safety to override everything.
Ultimately, whose responsibility do you think it is to ensure safety on a film set?
The first [assistant director] has a huge responsibility as far as safety, and I think that’s an important role that should be respected. Can there be additional layers to that person’s role, and maybe there are other ways to expand the safeguards? In our film, [prosecutor] Carrie Morrissey detailed the protocol that exists for guns [on set]. There’s a first line of defense, which is the armorer showing the gun, and then the first AD is supposed to show it. Those are two steps along the way. Often, we’ve heard, actors may or may not decide to look at the gun but that’s an optional element. There could be a question of, maybe there should be a third or fourth safeguard in place with every single hazardous potential. In the stunt department, it could be the same thing. Maybe there needs to be a third or fourth protocol in place to have the ability to safeguard against human error which can happen simply because people are doing too many things.
We can say certainly on Rust people were doing one too many things, and this person was being careless, but I guarantee you there’s a set right now as we speak where something along those lines is happening, where somebody is wearing too many hats, somebody’s rushing, and there’s probably a dangerous situation. I’ve heard about many different incidents since Rust. The next death that happens on a set, I believe, is not going to happen because of a gun.
Matthew Hutchins requested that Rust finish filming, because he says that’s what Halyna would have wanted. What was it like to be back on set when the movie picked up cameras again?
It was a really extraordinary experience and life-changing on some level. I got the feeling that each and every person who was completing that film was doing it for a very personal reason and a very different reason. Some of the people who had been on the first Rust set, I learned a lot about trauma from them. These people had basically been through a war zone, and for some of them, it was necessary [to finish the movie]. They felt that completing the film was an obligation to do right by Halyna’s family, because they knew Halyna’s family wanted it, and if they couldn’t do anything else for themselves or for anyone else, at least they could do that. That was a very profound feeling for those people.
Many of Halyna’s former colleagues and Rust collaborators were at the premiere last week in Los Angeles. Have you spoken to them about what they think of the documentary?
I have been in touch with pretty much everyone that worked on the documentary with me who was a friend of Halyna’s, and I would say it’s extraordinarily emotional. It’s very raw for everyone. It’s really intense and very painful, because in some ways we’re still processing her death, and it doesn’t feel fair at all. It isn’t fair. I think every single person has had their own reaction to the film. No one’s reaction is the same; everyone has different, mixed feelings, because this is truly an active trauma. When someone dies in a shocking, sudden way, you don’t get over it in just a couple of years. It’s still feeling raw and the ripple effects are still there.
After screening the documentary last week at the premiere, Rust director Joel Souza participated in a Q&A with you and said he “hoped [the film] might have a little more Halyna in it.” He also mentioned how your original intention for the documentary changed over time because “you were under some pressures.” What do you think about that reaction?
I think Joel said what he felt like saying in the moment we were onstage, and Joel is absolutely entitled to every single emotion he has. Joel has to live with the experience of being in a situation nobody should be in. I have endless compassion for Joel. I’m always amazed by his resilience, and I feel lucky that Joel has been able to persevere and be so strong in the face of such a horrible situation.
Have you been paying attention to how Alec Baldwin’s Rust trial is playing out on his new TLC reality show The Baldwins, which filmed last summer when his case was dismissed?
I wasn’t really aware that was a thing that’s happening. I’ve been overwhelmed with just the amount of stuff I’ve had to do for this particular rollout. I think Alec is his own person, and he’s doing his own thing, and every single person who endured trauma from this experience is entitled to their own experience. It’s unique to every person, I really do believe that. Alec is doing what he may need to do, and that is part of his experience.
What do you hope people take away from the film?
With every film there’s a moment of terror when it becomes public and you don’t know what that’s going to look like. But with this particular film, my goal is that it can do some good. I feel like this film could be helpful to some of the people that were forced to endure this horrible experience and have not really been able to be humanized to the public. I hope the world gets a little understanding of Halyna. I’m glad that this film contains some of her actual art in it. It’s awesome for me that we got to include some of her work for people to see what an artist she was. You can see the devotion she had to every single shot, and that includes Rust. Rust is part of her body of work. Nothing will ever be enough to properly explain or expose who she was, but at least this was some bit that I was able to offer the world because she is a lot more than just a victim of a gun on a set.
