As I mentioned there are plenty of state agencies interested. They must have needed a variety of licences to shoot a movie, the involvement of employees doing their jobs was mentioned above, there must have been some recognized form of commercial enterprise involved, incorporated or not, or even a DBA that would fall under the auspices of some state agency. Unlike a hunting accident or a case of personal stupidity there are a lot of cooks that can stir the soup if they want to.
Worth noting, Baldwin has put his $29 million house in the Hamptons on the market. Is this move related to the news he might be charged?
But wouldn’t each cook be bringing in their own budgeted funds rather than having it fall under the DA’s monies?
Hollywood’s safety record should be a big part of Baldwin’s defense. Tens of thousands of movies and TV featured guns with blanks. Especially the Westerns. The number of fatalities on set accidents is incredibly low. Exact stats are probably already calculated.
The safety procedures on set gives actors the confidence to handle these guns. Baldwin can say, I’m an actor and my job is to point the weapon where told. They tell me if its a hot or cold gun.
Some actors have commented they personally watch the armorer check the gun, bullets and load the gun. Others say they are just handed a hot or cold gun. I know live bullets are never allowed on sets.
Did Baldwin have a legal responsibility to wait for the armorer to check the gun and bullets while he watched?
I think that may be an important element of Baldwin’s trial.
I think there was initial wrangling to determine who was in charge and from there working out the budget concerns. I’m thinking this is more costly than the average case of negligent firearm discharge and difficult to budget for. However, without the celebrity aspect I don’t think it would be so costly so I’d be more interested in how they prepare for and deal with comparatively similar situations. There may not be much to compare to that involves people being shot but there are likely some fatal industrial accidents to consider.
He’s also a defendant in at least two civil suits relating to the shooting, including the wrongful death suit by Hutchins’ family.
I suspect the listing was in the works before the news that he might be charged was made public. He has known for a long time, like since the day of the shooting, that he might be charged. So I doubt the listing was related to this specific funding request from the prosecutor. But selling luxury properties takes a long time and the listing might very well have come because he sagely anticipated legal defense and liability expenses from the shooting.
Somewhere in this thread it was noted that actors are supposed to do a final check that the gun is safe. If that’s correct and it is routine for actors to do this check, one can imagine finding that Baldwin was negligent. Alternatively, one might find he reasonably relied on the experts. it will be up to a finder of fact to determine if he was negligent.
Is joint and several liability at play in the civil case? If so, Baldwin was probably named because he has deep pockets. The AD and armorer probably can’t be sued for much. But if Baldwin is even partly responsible, I believe he can be made to pay the entire judgment if the others don’t have the resources.
Criminally, I don’t see him getting convicted as an actor, But he was part of tyr production team, and if anyone can show that he pushed people to ‘get it done’ and skip safety procedures and such, he could be in trouble if they determine he was negligent.
My understanding is that part of the problem was Covid protocols that kept the Armorer off the set, and they had to work out different procedures. that should be a mitigating factor, IMO. Accidents happen when procedures are changed or ignored. In this case, the change was forced on them.
With certain exceptions, no, New Mexico has abolished joint and several liability, so he’d be liable only for his share. (New Mexico Statute 41-3A-1) (His share may of course include his share as a producer, if he in fact helped hire or supervise the armorer, etc.)
Nobody was forcing them to make a movie. If the new protocols didn’t allow them to make their film in a safe manner, they always had the option of not making the film at all, or of delaying things until it was safe to do so.
Filming of Rust will resume in January.
Anyone see any numbers of how big the settlement is?
I wonder how the settlement might affect any criminal case.
Probably with lots of rubber guns.
I wonder if insurance requires them to finish the film? Keep losses to a minimum.
Seems like a real dumb idea to me. I think it’s only sensible to throw in the towel regarding this project. Alec Baldwin, do you not think that this movie is going to weird people out?
For better or worse, it’s almost certain to do better at the box office now than it otherwise would have.
That’s a good point. I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio and/or other producers told Baldwin, we’re gonna proceed with or without you, what do you want to do? I don’t see Baldwin himself carrying on willingly and enthusiastically.
How much of the film was in the can when the incident occurred?
Just looked at the Wikipedia article real quick: The shooting took place on the 15th day of a 21-day shoot. Not sure how much that tells us, though. I’m also not sure if anyone has publicly stated something like a rough percentage of the film completed, or even so much as a “halfway through it” or a “nearly done”.
Anyone think you will be able to notice the differences in the scenes between before she was shot and in January? For example the kid will be more than a year older (and taller). The sun will be at a different position in the sky. Do they have snow it that part of New Mexico in January?..
This is likely why they brought Hutchins’ husband on board as a producer. It takes some of the edge off of claims that proceeding with the movie is exploitive or in bad taste if her widower is directly involved in the production. And as @Wheelz says, it’s almost certain to draw a much larger box office than it would have previously.