The script for the film Rust did not require actor Alec Baldwin to fire the gun that shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, a new lawsuit alleges.
Key points:
- The lawyer for the script supervisor says Mr Baldwin was “reckless”
- The lawsuit is the second to stem from the shooting
- It alleges Baldwin violated protocol by not checking the gun more carefully
“There was nothing in the script about the gun being discharged by defendant Baldwin or by any other person,” the lawsuit from script supervisor Mamie Mitchell said.
Ms Mitchell said she was left fearful and depressed after witnessing the shooting.
Her lawyer Gloria Allred alleged it was not a simple case of negligence.
“In our opinion, Mr Baldwin chose to play Russian roulette when he fired a gun without checking it,” Ms Allred said at a news conference.
The lawsuit is the second to stem from the shooting, with many more expected.
Like last week’s lawsuit from head of lighting Serge Svetnoy, it was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and names many defendants including Mr Baldwin, who was both acting and producing; David Halls, the assistant director who handed Baldwin the gun; and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was in charge of the weapons on the set.
Ms Mitchell’s suit focuses mainly on Mr Baldwin’s actions.
It said she was standing next to Ms Hutchins and within 1.22 metres of the actor, and was stunned when he fired the gun inside the tiny church on Bonanza Creek Ranch on October 21.
According to discussions before the scene was filmed, it called for three tight shots of Mr Baldwin: One on his eyes, one on a bloodstain on his shoulder, and one on his torso as he pulled the gun from a holster, the suit said.
There was no call for Mr Baldwin to point the gun toward Hutchins and Souza, nor to fire it, the suit said.
And it alleges Mr Baldwin violated protocol by not checking the gun more carefully.
A veteran script supervisor who has worked on nearly 100 productions, Ms Mitchell was on a set for the first time since the pandemic began.
She was the first to call 911 after the shooting, according to the suit.
She allegedly suffered “serious physical trauma and shock and injury to her nervous system”.
She is seeking both compensation and punitive damages in amounts to be determined later.
Lawyers and other representatives for the defendants had no immediate comment.
Mr Baldwin said on video on October 30 that the shooting was a “one-in-a-trillion event” saying: “We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together and then this horrible event happened.”
Ms Mitchell’s suit alleges the armourer on the production, Ms Gutierrez Reed, had minimal experience, and she was hired as one of several cost-cutting measures that proved dangerous.
It says she violated protocol by allowing guns and ammunition to be unattended during a lunch break.
Ms Gutierrez Reed told authorities she did not know how a live round ended up in the gun.
Her lawyer Jason Bowles said in a statement last week: “We are convinced this was sabotage and Hannah is being framed.”
ABC/AP
