A “somber-faced” Alec Baldwin was spotted walking around New York City on Wednesday, hours after missing the world premiere of his controversial film “Rust” in Poland, the Daily Mail reported.
In fact, Baldwin, 66, was not invited to the Energa Camerimage international film festival premiere because organizers said his presence would have been “too distracting.”
But it’s hard to imagine that the famously thin-skinned Baldwin would want to attend a screening of the Western film, surrounded by crowds of strangers, critics and “rubbers”, curious to see the consequences of his role in the murderous production of the film. .
“It was a cold, overcast afternoon in Toruń, Poland, as a packed theater watched Alec Baldwin shoot people,” Vulture critic Nick Newman began his review published Thursday. Newman summed up what has now become Hollywood lore – how a potential low-budget “teaser”, starring an aging film and TV star, was engulfed in “a whirlwind of tragedy so unthinkable”.
Three years earlier, Ukrainian-born cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed after Baldwin pointed a gun at her during a rehearsal on the film’s set outside Santa Fe, in New Mexico. The gun went off, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
Baldwin said he pulled back the hammer – but not the trigger – and the gun fired. The frequent ‘Saturday Night Live’ guest star insisted Hutchins’ death was a tragic accident, but he was investigated for more than a year and charged with manslaughter . However, the case was ultimately dismissed this summer on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to produce evidence.
By the time a real bullet was fired from a prop gun to kill Hutchins, “the film had transformed into an object of morbid curiosity,” Newman wrote. Baldwin, Souza, Hutchins’ husband Matthew, and others made the decision to go against conventional wisdom to complete the film. They said they hoped a completed “Rust” would be a way to honor Hutchins’ legacy and perhaps earn a little money to benefit his young son.
But at the film’s world premiere, it was “undeniable” that a certain percentage of people were only attending the premiere to “bring some closure to the end of a long, difficult and downright vile, years-long saga,” Newman wrote.
And these people were tempted, according to Newman’s critique.
Before the film began, festival organizers asked the audience to stand to observe a moment of silence in honor of Hutchins. They later said they hoped people would watch the film on its own, and not as “a tragedy or an extended courtroom proceeding.” During these presentations, no one mentioned Baldwin’s name.
But as soon as “Rust” started, it became impossible for people not to think about what happened to Hutchins, according to Newman.
Set in the 1880s, “Rust” tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who accidentally kills a rancher and runs from the law with his grandfather, an aging outlaw. As a western, there are of course a lot of guns.
“The first time a trigger is pulled in Rust, it clicks on an empty barrel; the second leads to the accidental death of a character, engendering utter gasps from the participants in the first,” Newman wrote. “Even though I didn’t take the time to question this crowd at full capacity, this reaction seemed to come less from a deep investment in a just-begun conspiracy than from a breath of recognition.”
“Rust has not chosen to echo his own tragedies,” Newman continued, “but they unfold through a film that is often compelling and effective, an unvarnished and appropriate Western tale of guilt, blame, family, law and dedication.”
Yes, Newman gave the film some props, explaining why it’s definitely a cut above the other “teaser guys.” The pejorative, incidentally, refers to a recent genre of low-budget, direct-to-streaming action films starring older, well-known male actors like Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson.
Before Hutchins’ death, Baldwin had expressed high hopes for “Rust” as a work of entertainment and even art. The Emmy-winning “30 Rock” star may have seen “Rust” as a way to revive a career that was veering into “teaser” territory and a failed network sitcom pilot with Kelsey Grammar . More recently, Baldwin began making appearances on “Saturday Night Live” again, and he helped film a potentially scary reality TV show with his influential wife Hilaria Baldwin and their brood of seven young children.
But Newman thought Baldwin seemed to struggle with his performance. He was “often unbalanced”, with his accent and the overall volume of his performance “wavering from scene to scene”.
Newman acknowledged that his problem with Baldwin’s performance may have come from him. “Maybe it’s just uncomfortable to see him achieve numerous victories with a gun, much like that of a still infamous image from a scene that is nowhere to be found in this final cut,” Newman wrote .
As it stands, it’s unclear whether “Rust” will ever appear in a movie theater or on a streaming service, Newman said. “Each time it appears, audiences will discover a work of salutary effect and simple pleasure saturated with morbid curiosity – a strange monument, an ugly footnote,” Newman said.
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