“Rust” partial poster.
Falling Foreward Films
Rust — the Alec Baldwin Western on which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was accidentally shot to death during filming — arrives on digital streaming this week.
The tragedy happened on Oct. 21, 2021, on the Rust set in New Mexico, when a live round in a prop gun Baldwin was holding went off and struck Hutchins in the chest and director Joel Souza in the shoulder. Hutchins died from her wounds in a local hospital and Souza recovered.
Baldwin denied pulling the trigger in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos about six weeks later, saying, “The trigger wasn’t pulled … I didn’t pull the trigger.” ABC News later obtained an FBI forensic report that called his claims into question.
Baldwin’s attorney address the report in a statement (via ABC), that partially said, “The FBI report is being misconstrued. The gun fired in testing only one time — without having to pull the trigger — when the hammer was pulled back and the gun broke in two different places. The FBI was unable to fire the gun in any prior test, even when pulling the trigger, because it was in such poor condition.”
Charges of involuntary manslaughter were filed against Baldwin twice. The first charge was dismissed in April of 2023 when new evidence surfaced and the second charge was dropped in July of 2024 when a judge said evidence about the shooting was withheld by the state.
Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was also charged involuntary manslaughter. She was found guilty in April of 2024 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Despite the on-set fatality, production on Rust was finished and the film premiered at Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival in November of 2024.
Starting Friday, Rust will be released on digital streaming via premium video on demand and in limited release in theaters. Rust — which will be available on AppleTV, Fandango at Home and Prime Video — is currently listed for pre-order for $14.99, which is also the film’s digital purchase price.
If the film is made available to rent, digital rentals generally are $5 less purchase prices, so viewers can expect to rent Rust for $9.99.
What Is Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ About?
The official summary for Rust reads, “A 13-year-old boy in 1880’s Wyoming is taken on a harrowing journey to old Mexico by his long-estranged grandfather after he’s sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher, with a US Marshall and a vicious Bounty Hunter in pursuit.”
Alec Baldwin stars as Harland Rust in Rustwhich also stars Travis Fimmel, Josh Hopkins, Jake Busey, Frances Fisher and Patrick Scott McDermott.
Meanwhile, a documentary about the Rust tragedy — Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna — is available to stream on Hulu.
In a press release about the documentary, the production notes that Halyna Hutchins’ friend, director Rachel Mason, “goes beyond the public narrative to reveal the untold human story of that terrible day and all that followed — from the vantage point of the people at the center of the tragedy.”
The documentary’s official summary partially reads, “On October 21, 2021, on the set of the movie Rusta prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin fired a live bullet, wounding the film’s director and killing its cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. Within hours, the catastrophic accident was enveloped by a frenzy of media attention. For months, then years, as lawsuits flew and criminal trials unfolded, the tabloid spectacle around the case overshadowed a private, personal tragedy.
“The film weaves together the accounts of those who were on the set of Rust that day and of those, like Mason, who not only lost a cherished friend and colleague but who are still navigating the trauma of the aftermath.”
Rust, which stars Alec Baldwin — who is one of the film’s producers — will debut on PVOD and will be released in select theaters on Friday.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/04/30/controversial-alec-baldwin-movie-rust-comes-to-streaming-this-week/