Alec Baldwin has reshared a post on social media from a Rust crew member shutting down speculation about safety concerns on set.
A police investigation is currently underway after the 63-year-old accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming in New Mexico last month.
Director Joel Souza also suffered from injuries from the accident.
Santa Fe authorities are currently looking into how the firearm had a suspected live round, despite Baldwin being informed by an assistant director that the gun was safe, according to court documents.
After the shooting, concerns about safety on the set arose while Santa Fe county sheriff also said the weapons were handled with “some complacency.”
Now, Baldwin has addressed those concerns by resharing a post by the film’s costume designer Terese Magpale Davis in which she describes “the story being spun of us being overworked and surrounded by unsafe, chaotic conditions is bullsh*t.”
Posting the screenshots to his Instagram account, Baldwin told his 2.4m followers to “read this.”
She claims that the crew “never worked more than a 12.5 hour shoot day”.
She also defended the producers – Baldwin included – saying they were the “most approachable and warm producers I’ve ever worked with” and that “concerns were heard and addressed.”
“Some of these producers waived their entire fees to make sure we could make this move and pay for things like hotels for everyone who asked.”
The costume designer said they had a union rep and claimed that the production was “given permission” to hire off the union overflow list and that every “non-union” person that was hired was from this list.
Davis also defended the film’s weapons expert, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was the one who gave the gun to assistant director David Halls who then handed it to Baldwin.
She said: “The armorer had apprenticed to a well-known armorer and had been in the same position on the same type of movie a few months before.”
Referring to misfires, Davis noted that they were “accidental discharges which are more common than you think.”
She also said that the crew sometimes had multiple safety meetings per day while also defending Halls.
In the next post reshared by Baldwin, Davis says she’s questioned producers as to why they haven’t defended themselves “against the false accusations in the media.”
And their answer has been that “they want to focus on Halyna” and also time to “grieve and recover.”
She also says the producers have been continuing to call the crew to check up on them.
“This is about gun safety,” Davis continued.
“Something we could all stand to learn a little more about so that we know if we’re seeing something a bit off.
“I know that’s not as much fun to jump on as vilifying producers. Personal responsibility is the last thing anyone wants to focus on in a tragedy.”
Davis ended her explanation by addressing those criticising the producers for hiring non-union workers.
“Maybe you could remember what’s it’s like to work on a tightly knit indie set and realise that those producers are just as wrecked over this as the crew is.”
“Maybe you could just not be one more person with a pitchfork in a mob that has no idea what you’re talking about because YOU WEREN’T THERE,” she concluded.
Over the weekend, Baldwin himself spoke publicly about the accident while also paying tribute to the 42-year-old cinematographer.
“She was my friend,” Baldwin told photographers in Vermont.
“We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together and then this horrible event happened.”
As investigations continue, production has halted for the film indefinitely.
According to prosecutors, it’s too early to tell at the moment if criminal charges will be brought in this case.
