Alec Baldwin Says Death on Set of ‘Rust’ Affected His Life and Career

Alec Baldwin, 64, told CNN that the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in an accidental gunshot he fired on the set of “Rust” cost him professionally. He said he lost five projects after the tragedy in October last year and that industry leaders don’t want to risk hiring him.

“I got fired from another job,” Baldwin said. “There I was ready to go to the movies, jump on a plane. I’ve been talking to these guys for months and they said, ‘We don’t want to do the movie with you because of this,'” he said.

Baldwin also said he fears for his life after President Donald Trump publicly said he believed he shot the director of photography on purpose. “It took years out of my life,” Baldwin said of the stress caused by those fears. “There’s just a torrent of people attacking me who don’t know the facts,” the actor added.

Baldwin said his family helped him get through the tragedy and that he probably would have left Hollywood if he didn’t have to support his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, who is pregnant with their seventh child. “If I didn’t have my wife, I don’t know where I would be right now, a house in the middle of nowhere.”

Despite the New Mexico Office of Medical Investigators announcing that the shooting was an accident, Baldwin fully blamed Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who served as a gunsmith and prop assistant in the film, and assistant director Dave Halls, who delivered the gun.

“Someone put a live bullet in the gun who should have known better. That was Gutierrez-Reed’s job. His job was to look at the ammo and put the fake ammo or blank ammo, and there shouldn’t be any live ammo on set.” said Baldwin.