‘Rust’ Prosecutors Looking Into Whether Alec Baldwin Undermined Set Safety

The production entity for Rust must turn over records that could indicate whether Alec Baldwin shirked industry-wide norms on set safety to shoot the movie on a shoestring budget, a judge has ruled on Tuesday.

In what could be a prelude to the refiling of charges against the movie’s actor and producer, prosecutors are seeking documents between Rust Movie Productions and Alec Baldwin, as well as his production company El Dorado Pictures. They’re looking into the possibility that Baldwin stood to profit if he cut corners on set safety related to the use of guns.

The records could help Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the fatal shooting of the movie’s cinematographer when a gun Baldwin was holding discharged. She’s argued that she was stopped from adequately performing her job by the movie’s producers, who she claims denied requests for additional firearm training for financial reasons.

Jason Bowles, Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer, said in a statement that Rust Movie Productions “needs to stop trying to hide the ball and needs to be transparent and forthcoming with information.”

“It begs the questions, what are they hiding and why?” Bowles added. (Rust Movie Productions did not reply to requests for comment.)

Charges against Baldwin were dismissed in April, though prosecutors said they could be refiled pending the results of an investigation into whether the gun that discharged was modified. A forensic expert issued a report in September clashing with an account of the incident from Baldwin, who has maintained that he did not pull the trigger on the gun.

According to court filings, the subpoena was issued to Rust Movie Productions in August when Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer alerted prosecutors to circumstances surrounding the production that he argued is relevant to his client’s criminal case. He cited Gutierrez-Reed, who worked as the movie’s props assistant as well as armorer when guns weren’t in active use, requesting additional time to provide firearm handling training to Baldwin, which were denied. Industry-wide safety norms that he could’ve violated include intentionally discharging a firearm even though the scene he was rehearsing didn’t call for it and accepting the gun from assistant director Dave Halls instead of the armorer, who is supposed to hand it off after showing that the chambers are empty, per safety bulletins recommended by the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee.

Rust Movie Productions fought the subpoena. It argued that prosecutors are engaging in an “obvious phishing expedition,” with the aim of charging Baldwin, and that they’re looking for “privileged and protected materials” that requires disclosure of trade secrets and other confidential information.

New Mexico Judge Mary Sommer on Tuesday denied the company’s motion to quash the subpoena. Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey stressed Baldwin’s role in Rust as a producer who was intimately “involved in the development of the script and other aspects of the film.” She argued that his motives with respect to production of the movie is relevant to the criminal case against Gutierrez-Reed since there may have been financial considerations that could’ve influenced some of his decisions on set safety, like to deny additional firearm training.

“For example, Mr. Baldwin’s agreements likely require that he receive a certain amount of compensation for each day filming or for each day performing tasks related to filming, such as firearm training,” Morrissey wrote in a filing. “The State and Ms. Gutierrez should be permitted to explore whether Ms. Gutierrez’s requests were denied due to financial considerations, and not due to safety or other reasonable considerations.”

According to prosecutors, Baldwin’s contracts may have provided that he receive a percentage of profits from Rust, “again demonstrating that financial gain may have impacted Ms. Gutierrez’s ability to perform her job as an armorer.”

A New Mexico safety agency found last year that Gutierrez-Reed was spread too thin. In accordance with industry-recognized safety practice, the armorer is required to be present whenever firearms are being handled and should have the authority to determine whether an individual requires additional safety training. But Gutierrez-Reed also had to perform the role of props assistant when firearms weren’t in active use. She was told by line producer Gabrielle Pickle that she was allowed eight paid days as armorer and the rest of her time was to be spent as a props assistant. Pickle wrote in a text four days before the shooting that there would be “no more” firearm training for Baldwin, per a report from the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau, which fined Rust Movie Productions $100,000 for “willful-serious” violations of safety measures.

Baldwin has been sued by numerous Rust crew members over the shooting. In a lawsuit from script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, a judge advanced a claim of assault against the actor for violating industry norms regarding the handling of firearms.

“The industry wide safety bulletin for use of firearms mandates that all firearms are to be treated as though they are loaded because, as Alec Baldwin knew, guns are inherently dangerous weapons,” stated the ruling. “He had no right to rely upon some alleged statement by the Assistant Director that it was a ‘cold gun.’ Mr. Baldwin cannot hide behind the Assistant Director to attempt to excuse the fact that he did not check the gun himself.”