Rust director Joel Souza has spoken out for the first time about the on-set shooting involving Alec Baldwin, saying he has “no relationship” with the actor.
In October 2021, a prop gun held by the Baldwin fired a live bullet that killed Halyna Hutchins and seriously injured Souza. Baldwin was charged with involantry manslaughter over the incident before a judge dismissed the case on July 12.
“It’s bizarre to have been shot,” Souza told Vanity Fair. “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 said 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 the interviewer said that Souza must have been very grateful to be alive, the director replied: “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.”
Asked for his opinion on Baldwin’s involantry manslaughter charge, Souza said: “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. 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.”
Despite the trauma attached to the production, Souza decided to return to set to finish the film, noting that he wanted to protect Hutchins’ legacy and allow audiences to see her “last” film.
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.”
After being cleared of involuntary manslaughter, Baldwin took to Instagram to issue a message of gratitude to friends and fans for their support through the investigation.
“There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now,” he writes. “To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family.”
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