Rust Producer Makes A Shocking Announcement At Cannes
Last year's deadly "Rust" shooting incident — which saw actor Alec Baldwin accidentally fire a gun with a live round on the movie's film set, striking and fatally wounding cinematographer Halyna Hutchins — is back in the headlines once again.
Just last week, it was reported by Deadline that Baldwin and another "Rust" producer, Anjul Nigam, would be launching a new TV and film company in wake of the shooting, which also left director Joel Souza wounded and resulted in a wrongful death suit filed by Hutchins' family, as well as a police investigation that's still being conducted. Baldwin and Nigam have managed to already come up a name for the company — Persona Entertainment — and plans for a new movie, the psychological thriller "False Awakening," starring Baldwin.
Now, Nigam has come forward at the Cannes Film Festival and made a public revelation about more future plans for Baldwin and himself, which have people questioning their motives. "Rust is obviously a horrific tragedy," Nigam told The Hollywood Reporter at Cannes. "The investigation will hopefully be resolved soon and will unveil what happened," he said. "Obviously, there will be people out there who will have negative perspectives, but we're confident about continuing to make quality movies."
According to Nigam, one of those quality movies that he and Baldwin are reportedly confident in making — or finishing, in this instance — is, shockingly, "Rust."
Once the investigation concludes, Rust will be completed and released, Nigam says
According to producer Anjul Nigam, once the Santa Fe County sheriff's office completes its probe of Halyna Hutchins' death the "Rust" crew will go back to work on completing the movie and eventually releasing it. "We're confident we'll be able to complete the movie," Nigam told The Hollywood Reporter at Cannes, shocking social media users who saw tweets about the revelation.
"But should they?" asked @PhilliesFever.
"Maybe they shouldn't," replied @AndreBennettGO.
User @ThePretender180 wrote, "I hope the family of the victim sue everyone and everything."
Alec Baldwin, the "Rust" production companies, several of its other producers, and multiple crew members have all been named in the Hutchins wrongful death suit as being responsible for what happened on October 21, 2021, in Bonanza City, New Mexico. In April 2022, a New Mexico safety agency determined that the producers demonstrated a "plain indifference" to the cast's safety and ultimately knew that firearm safety protocols weren't being followed on set (via The Hollywood Reporter). The report declared that Baldwin was totally unaware of the live round inside his prop gun and that he believed only dummy rounds were being used.