‘HEART AND SOUL’

‘Rust’ Cinematographer Felt ‘Responsibility’ for Crew’s Jobs After Walkout

Halyna Hutchins died Thursday after being shot by a prop gun filled with live rounds.

Slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins stayed on the New Mexico film set of Rust after a union crew walkout Thursday morning because she “felt the responsibility for everyone else’s job there,” a source tells People magazine. Hutchins, who was killed Thursday when actor and producer Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that contained live rounds, “put her heart and soul into everything she did,” the source told the magazine. She had felt the project “rest[ed] on her shoulders,” he said, adding later, “If she left, production’s over and that’s what? Another 30 people’s jobs, livelihoods?”

News of the walkout was first reported by the Los Angeles Times on Friday. According to the Times, a text sent to a union production manager read, “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe.” More scrutiny has since been leveled at other members of the crew, including an “inexperienced” armorer and allegedly negligent assistant director. A search warrant affidavit obtained over the weekend revealed that Baldwin had unknowingly been handled a firearm with live ammunition during rehearsals. The assistant director had given the weapon to the actor from a cart prepared by the armorer. Production on Rust has been indefinitely suspended following the accident, according to its production company.