- Alec Baldwin fired a fatal shot in October 2021
- A camerawoman died on the film set
- The actor now says it's not his fault
Alec Baldwin, 63, has filed a request for arbitration claiming his contract shields him from financial responsibility for the death of camerawoman Halyna Hutchins, who was killed when a gun was fired on the set of Rust in October.
Court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight stated that "this is a rare instance when the system broke down, and someone should be held legally culpable for the tragic consequences. That person is not Alec Baldwin."
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Alec Baldwin, who is among the defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Halyna's family, insisted he was not "reckless" on set after previously denying pulling the gun's trigger.
He instead accused gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director Dave Halls of telling him there were no live cartridges in the gun, and also credited Seth Kenney, who supplied the ammunition for the film.
The demand for arbitration addressed to the producers stated: "Immediately before the handoff to Baldwin, upon information and belief, Halls had taken the gun off a prop 2 cart after it had been loaded by the set’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the person responsible for gun safety and managing the operation of firearm-related props on the set."
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The documents further state: "At this point, two things are clear: someone is culpable for chambering the live round that led to this horrific tragedy, and it is someone other than Baldwin. Baldwin is an actor. He didn’t announce that the gun was 'cold' when it really contained a live round; he didn’t load the gun; he didn’t check the bullets in the gun; he didn’t purchase the bullets; he didn’t make the bullets and represent that they were dummies; he wasn’t in charge of firearm safety on the set; he didn’t hire the people who supplied the bullets or checked the gun; and he played no role in managing the movie’s props. Each of those jobs was performed by someone else," the statement read according to ET.
Alec testified that he returned $100,000 of his $250,000 fee for the film, but he still wants to complete the film in honor of Halyna.
