Quentin Tarantino Accuses Alec Baldwin of Part Responsibility for Filming 'Rust'

Quentin Tarantino Believes Alec Baldwin Is Partly Responsible for Halyna Hutchins' Shooting Death During Filming of the Movie Rust.

On the August 25 episode of Bill Maher Club Random PodcastThe host asked the acclaimed director what he thought about the October 2021 incident, in which Baldwin, 66, fired the toy gun that killed Hutchins, the film's director of photography.

“I think I’m pretty fair in saying that the gunsmith, the guy who handles the gun, is 90 percent responsible for everything that happens with that gun,” Tarantino began. “But the actor is 10 percent responsible. It’s a gun. You’re a partner in that responsibility, to a certain extent.”

He pointed out that there is usually a procedure in place, detailed for the actor handling the firearm, adding: “If there are steps to follow, you follow them and it's done with due diligence. And you know it's for real.”

Representatives for Baldwin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Weekly EntertainmentRequest for comment from.

Hutchins was killed and the film's director, Joel Souza, was injured when a toy gun Baldwin was holding discharged a live round into the Rust scheduled for October 21, 2021. The actor was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023, but the charges were later dropped to allow for further investigation into the case.

Baldwin was subsequently charged a second time in January 2024. In response to the charges, SAG-AFTRA issued a statement opposing Tarantino's views, arguing that actors are not responsible for inspecting weapons on set.

“It is not an actor’s job to be a firearms or weapons expert,” the statement reads. “Firearms are provided for use on set under the supervision of several expert professionals who are directly responsible for the safe and accurate use of that firearm.”

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty and, throughout the legal battle, has maintained that he “didn't pull the trigger.” In July, a New Mexico judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter case against the actor, dismissing the case with prejudice so it cannot be refiled. Before that, Rust Gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the incident and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

During his conversation with Tarantino, Maher proposed an alternative to film sets using blanks, but the Oscar winner strongly opposed it.

“Why not do it this way?” Maher began. “There’s nothing in the gun. Nothing. So when the actor pulls the trigger, nothing happens except you hear…”

“Except it’s bloodless,” Tarantino interjected.

“Can't you put that in post-production?[production]? ” Maher suggested.

Tarantino responded, “Yeah, I guess I can add digital erections to porn movies, but who wants to watch that? It's exciting to film the whites and see the real orange fire, not to add orange fire. You have to capture it.”

THE pulp Fiction The director also argued that “despite the number of guns used in films,” there are few examples of people being killed in gun-related accidents on set.

“It's a damn good record,” he said, later adding that Rust This incident is “the kind of disaster that happens and damages an entire industry.”

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Since 2021, Hutchins' shocking on-set death has drawn comparisons to the untimely death of Brandon Lee in 1993. The 28-year-old actor, son of the late martial arts star Bruce Lee, was killed after being struck by a .44-caliber bullet while filming a death scene for the cult classic, The RavenThe 1993 incident was the last recorded accidental death due to a toy gun on a film set, although Hollywood has a long history of on-set deaths.

Before Lee, actor Jon-Erik Hexum was killed on the set of the TV series Cover in 1984, when he accidentally shot himself in the head with a pistol loaded with blanks.

You can hear more of Tarantino's thoughts on the Rust incident in the podcast above.