Open in full screen mode In 2021, on the set of the film “Rust”, director Joel Souza was shot in the shoulder. Agence France-Presse “Like a baseball bat to the shoulder”: the director of the film Rust, Joel Souza, told a US court on Friday of the moment when a gun held by actor Alec Baldwin injured him and killed the cinematographer. The story was given at the Santa Fe (New Mexico) trial of Hannah Gutierrez- Reed, responsible for handling the weapons on this low-budget western. Filming turned into drama in October 2021 on a ranch in New Mexico, a state in the southwest of the United States. Alec Baldwin, also a producer of the film, had pointed a revolver supposed to contain only blank bullets, but a real projectile had killed the director of photography Halyna Hutchins and injured the director.
The filming of “Rust” on a ranch in New Mexico turned into a tragedy on October 21, 2021.
On the stand Friday, Joel Souza recounted his confusion when he received a very real bullet in his shoulder. There was a huge “bang,” he said.
I&# x27;felt like a baseball bat hit me in the shoulder.
A quote from Joel Souza, director of the film Rust
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The accused, gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, then had the' looking distraught, he says. I remember her saying 'sorry, I'm sorry Joel,' and I remember someone yelling at her before she was pushed out, he told the court.
Gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed sits with her attorney Jason Bowles during the first day of testimony in her trial, February 22, 2024.
Footage exhibited at the trial on Thursday showed actor Alec Baldwin gesticulating on set with a gun in his hand, firing blank bullets from the chain and urging the gunsmith to reload her weapons more quickly .
An expert called to the stand also denounced Thursday a lax attitude regarding security within the & #x27;film crew.
Alec Baldwin, in 2021, after the fatal shooting on the set of filming of the film “Rust”
One of the central questions is how a very deadly cartridge found herself on the set of Rust.
The 26-year-old gunsmith is being prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter, a crime punishable by up to 18 months in prison. She disputes the charges.
Alec Baldwin is being prosecuted on the same charge, but will be tried separately in July. The 65-year-old actor denies pulling the trigger and has always maintained that he was assured his weapon was harmless.