Director of Alec Baldwin’sRustUnderstands If People ‘Don’t Want to Watch’ Film After On-Set Death: ‘No Hard Feelings’

Mar. 15, 2025

Joel Souza; Alec Baldwin; Halyna Hutchins.Photo:Wojtek RADWANSKI/AFP; John Lamparski/Getty; Mat Hayward/Getty

Wojtek RADWANSKI/AFP; John Lamparski/Getty; Mat Hayward/Getty

RustdirectorJoel Souzahopes that people who are on the fence about watching the film — three years after cinematographerHalyna Hutchinsdied in anaccidental on-set shootingin 2021 — “give it chance.”

Souza, 51, opened up about his years-long collaboration withRuststarAlec Baldwin, Hutchins’ legacy and the public’s reception in an interview withThe Hollywood Reporteron Wednesday, Nov. 20, when Rust made its world premiere at the 2024 Camerimage Festival in Poland.

“If people don’t want to watch this movie, for any reason, they certainly don’t need to and there’s no hard feelings from me,” Souza told the outlet. “But what I hope is that people give it a chance — and if they do, that they look closely at the visual aspects, particularly the cinematography.”

Alec Baldwin in court on July 12, 2024.Ramsay de Give-Pool/Getty

Ramsay de Give-Pool/Getty

The actor wasindictedon an involuntary manslaughter charge in January, but a judge laterdropped the criminal caseagainst him in July after Baldwin’s lawyers argued that the prosecution buried evidence.

In September,RustarmorerHannah Gutierrez-Reed was convictedof involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Now, Souza wants people to see Rust to honor Hutchins.

“A large part of our business only got to know Halyna’s name because of what happened to her — and I think that’s a shame,” the director toldTHRat theRustpremiere. “So if you watch the film, you’ll get to look through her eyes and get to understand a little more about the artist she was.”

Halyna Hutchins in the 2022 Oscars ‘In Memoriam’ segment.Neilson Barnard/Getty

Neilson Barnard/Getty

Souza also revealed his favorite sequence that Hutchins created.

“Some of the horseriding montage shots are stunningly beautiful,” he told the outlet. “But there’s one we did together that I love, which is where Frances Fisher’s character has just come to town and she’s standing in this courtroom, speaking to these sort of town fathers.”

“She’s silhouetted in the doorway, and we do this long, slow push-in for about a minute of dialog, and we have the actors staggered at different lengths. And it’s just a beautiful, powerful shot,” Souza continued.

The director recalled toTHRthat he and Hutchins had to create an impromptu alternate shooting strategy due to “terrible weather.”

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“So Halyna and I sort of huddled together and came up with a way to do it in one [take] — and it was very exciting for the camera team. They were excited about it because we were trying something cool, and we all kind of knew in our gut that it completely worked,” Souza remembered.

“Sometimes you take a swing and you think, ‘Oh my god, that didn’t work.’ But this time, we stuck at it and it was just perfect,” he added. “Afterwards, Halyna sort of hooked her arm around me and we practically went skipping away off to the next set-up, because it was just that exciting. That one, for me, will always be my favorite shot in the movie.”

Rustdoes not have a U.S. release date yet.

source: people.com