Rust director Joel Souza says the film moved forward after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on set. In the director’s first interview since the 2021 shooting, he clarified the process through which he came back. “At a certain point, it was conveyed to me that there was going to be some form of settlement and that [Halyna Hutchins’s husband] Matt Hutchins was going to be involved as a producer,†Souza, who was also shot, told Vanity Fair. “This is what he wanted. I knew that the movie being finished would financially benefit Halyna’s family, which is very important to me.†He also noted a sense of personal responsibility toward the work itself. “People seeing her last work matters,†he said. “If it was me that had gotten killed instead of her — as it should have been — she would do the same thing.â€
Hutchins was shot as the film’s star Alec Baldwin filmed a scene with a loaded gun. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison, while Baldwin’s involuntary-manslaughter trial was dismissed on July 12 over withheld evidence. There are parts of Hutchins’s work that will not be seen by the public at any point, even when the movie does come out. For starters, actor Jensen Ackles, who was originally in the project, chose not to return and was replaced by Josh Hopkins, so any of Hutchins’s work with Ackles is gone. That also includes the scene in which the shooting took place. “Not just that, but also a few things leading up to it,†Souza noted. “I’m not going back to that.â€