In an impromptu Q&A on the side of the road, actor Alec Baldwin spoke publicly for the first time about the fatal accidental shooting incident at a New Mexico movie location.
(Video: Fox News Digital)
Although Baldwin has a reputation for a volatile personality, it was his wife Hilaria who seemed somewhat antagonistic to the reporters, while her husband was calmly willing to talk, with limitations, about the tragic event on October 21 during the filming of “Rust.”
“I’m not allowed to make any comments because it’s an ongoing investigation. I’ve been ordered by the sheriff’s department in Santa Fe: I can’t answer any questions about the investigation, I can’t. It’s an active investigation in term of a woman dying. She was my friend,” Baldwin, 63, told videographers in Vermont on Saturday where he and his family are staying temporarily.
A criminal investigation is ongoing. As a producer of the film, Baldwin could also face civil liability, i.e., financial accountability, as responsibility is assessed. “As a producer, Baldwin could be ultimately implicated in the negligence leading to the shootings,” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley has theorized. “The most likely liability for Baldwin would stem from civil liability in the form of a wrongful death action.”
The Baldwins implied that they were willing to talk so that the paparazzi would stop following them and their six kids around town.
Fallout after actor Alec Baldwin fires prop gun that kills cinematographer, wounds director https://t.co/dY8ToxRmnO
— Jack Furnari (@JackBPR) October 22, 2021
The media had spotted the couple dining at an otherwise closed bar in Vermont the night before.
“The day I arrived in Santa Fe, I took her to dinner with Joel, the director. We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together, and then this horrible event happened. Now, I’ve been told multiple times, don’t make any comments about the ongoing investigation, and I can’t,” he again underscored, while his wife was hovering around apparently filming the roadside interaction with her cell phone.
“What are the questions that you have other than that?” Baldwin then asked.
When one of the interviewers seemed to be unsure of the name of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who died after Baldwin discharged the weapon, Hilaria Baldwin expressed outrage.
“Her name is Halyna. If you’re spending so much time waiting for us, you should know her name. Her name is Halyna,” she insisted.
“Her name is Halyna. I met with her husband Matthew and her son,” Baldwin continued, adding that he didn’t know how to characterize the meeting under the circumstances.
“You guys…you know what — no details,” Hilaria chimed in.
“Do me a favor,” an uncharacteristically contrite Baldwin said to his wife. “I’m gonna answer the question…the guy is overwhelmed with grief,” he asserted in an apparent reference to Halyna Hutchins’ husband.
“There are incidental accidents on film sets from time to time, but nothing like this. This is a one in a trillion episode. It’s a one in a trillion event. He is in shock; he has a nine-year-old son,” he then told the photographers. “We are in constant contact with him because we are very worried about his family and his kid…we’re eagerly awaiting for the sheriff’s department to tell us what their investigation has yielded….
“I do know that an ongoing effort to limit the use of firearms on film sets is something that I’m extremely interested in. But remember…how many bullets have been fired in films and TV shows in the last 75 years? This is America. How many bullets have gone off in movies and on TV sets before? How many, billions in the last 75 years?” Baldwin asked. “And nearly all of it without incident. So what has to happen now is, we have to realize that when it does go wrong, and it’s this horrible, catastrophic thing, some new measures have to take place. Rubber guns, plastic guns, no live — no real armaments on set. That’s not for me to decide.”
“It’s urgent that you understand I’m not an expert in this field, so whatever other people decide is the best way to go in terms of protecting people’s safety on film sets, I’m all in favor of, and I will cooperate with that in any way that I can,” he explained. He also seemed to indicate that it is unlikely that production on “Rust” would restart.
Director Joel Souza was also injured in the incident.
Baldwin, an outspoken anti-Trump liberal, won praise from Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly for the way he handled the questions — but Hilaria, not so much.
ALEC actually did decent job handling questions here. But watch Massachusetts native "Hilaria" get all INDIGNANT when the reporter forgets the name of the woman killed by Baldwin. EASY THERE HILLARY!!! pic.twitter.com/q1u8dPT8pW
— Greg Kelly–LET'S GO BRANDON! (@gregkellyusa) October 30, 2021
Hilaria separately told the New York Post that she has concerns that Alec will develop post-traumatic stress disorder and expressed some doubt as to whether he would ever act again. “I brought [Alec] up here because we have to mourn Halyna’s death. Alec had a really traumatic thing happen, and I am trying to limit the PTSD.”
“You look at what happens to soldiers and police officers when something like this happens, it’s traumatic. We just came up here for quiet. He needs space for me to take care of him and his mental health. It’s an awful thing that happened. Alec feels awful…Alec has done movies with guns for 40 years. Nothing like this has ever happened. There should be zero probability of that ever happening.”
Yoga instructor Hilaria Baldwin, 37, made headlines late last year when it was discovered she had allegedly been fabricating her Spanish accent and her heritage, to which Kelly may have been alluding.
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Robert Jonathan is a staff writer for BizPac Review. He is a longtime writer/editor for news aggregation websites and has also developed content in the legal and financial publishing sectors as well as for online education. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, “a law school the basketball teams can be proud of.”
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