Alec Baldwin shooting: ‘Rust’ director Joel Souza ‘gutted’ by on-set fatality

“Rust” director Joel Souza, who was wounded Thursday by a prop gun that also killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, said he was “gutted” by her loss.

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Photos: Halyna Hutchins, cinematographer killed on 'Rust' set, mourned at candlelight vigil Russ Backers, a stagehand and welder in IATSE Local 33, lays down his union pin for the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a candlelight vigil for her, Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021, in Burbank, Calif. A prop firearm discharged last Thursday by actor Alec Baldwin, while producing and starring in a Western movie in Santa Fe, N.M., killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

In a statement that was reported by Deadline and NBC News on Saturday, Souza, 48, talked about his colleague in his first public comments since being released from a New Mexico hospital.

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“Director Joel Souza told me he’s out of hospital,” Frances Fisher, an actress in “Rust,” tweeted early Friday after reports that he had been seriously injured.

"Rust" filmmaker Joel Souza remembers Halyna Hutchins as an "incredibly talented" cinematographer after surviving the movie set accident, involving a prop gun, that resulted in Hutchins' death. https://t.co/igeuC9riza
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 23, 2021

Hutchins, 42, was killed and Souza was wounded when actor Alec Baldwin, 63, fired a prop gun he believed was safe to use, according to a search warrant. The bullet struck Hutchins in the chest and injured Souza, who was standing behind her, in the shoulder, according to The Associated Press and KOAT-TV.

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Photos: Alec Baldwin fired 'prop gun' that killed 'Rust' cinematographer, officials say The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office responds to the scene of a fatal accidental shooting at a Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set near Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Authorities say a cinematographer has been killed and a director injured Thursday after they were shot by a prop firearm on the "Rust" movie set. (Luis Sanchez-Saturno//Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)

“I am gutted by the loss of my friend and colleague, Halyna,” Souza said in his statement. “She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch, and always pushed me to be better.”

>> Alec Baldwin shooting: ‘Rust’ crew members had safety concerns before incident

“My thoughts are with her family at this most difficult time. I am humbled and grateful by the outpouring of affection we have received from our filmmaking community, the people of Santa Fe, and the hundreds of strangers who have reached out,” Souza added. “It will surely aid in my recovery.”

The director Joel Souza — who was shot Thursday after Alec Baldwin fired a gun used as a prop — was released from a hospital in New Mexico late Thursday and is expected to make a full recovery. The circumstances of the shooting are under investigation. https://t.co/UeddBkWKeP
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 22, 2021

The scene to be filmed was a gunfight that began in a church, and Baldwin’s character was supposed to back out of the sanctuary, according to production notes obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

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Hutchins was looking into a monitor behind a camera operator lining up her next camera shot when she was killed, the newspaper reported. Souza was crouching just behind her.

Baldwin removed the gun from its holster once without incident, but the second time he did so, ammunition flew toward the three people around the monitor. The bullet missed the camera operator but hit Hutchins near her shoulder and then hit Souza, according to the Times.

>> Who was cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, killed by Alec Baldwin’s ‘prop gun’?

Filming for “Rust” began in New Mexico in the first week of October, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. Production was expected to continue into November with 75 in-state crew members, 22 principal actors from New Mexico and 230 local people providing background talent, the newspaper reported.

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