One day after New Mexico dropped charges against Alec Baldwin for the fatal accidental shooting of DP Halyna Hutchins on the set of the independent Western Rust, word is out that Baldwin is starring in a showbiz comedy about movie producers in a “race against time to save their latest production†after it’s disrupted. In the movie, Baldwin will play himself, and Deadline describes the film as “meta†and “inspired by true events.†While the actual mechanics of the plot sound very different from the events of the Rust shooting — the movie-within-a-movie is stalled when a thief empties the film’s bank account — the timing of this announcement, and the framing of it as a “meta†Hollywood crime story, feels insensitive to say the least and a little opportunistic to say more than the least.
The movie is called Hollywood Heist, and if you’re wondering how Baldwin is going to find the time to shoot it when he just started shooting Rust again, don’t worry. Because principal photography’s already done. One of the filming locations is Majorca, Spain, which has us wondering just how autobiographical this version of Baldwin is going to be (Hilaria cameo?).
If all of this sounds just a little bit too controversial, don’t worry. The movie also stars … Mickey Rourke and Nick Cannon. Oh no.