Several years before its eventual release, the film became notorious for a fatal shooting accident. In 2021, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed when a live round was discharged from a prop revolver fired between takes by Baldwin. Director Souza was wounded in the shoulder by the same bullet. An initial set of charges against Baldwin were dropped in 2023 and another set dismissed in 2024. Producers, including Baldwin, then decided to resume filming, with Souza since expressing regret in having begun production on the film at all, stating that "I wish I never wrote the damn movie".[4]
The completed project premiered at the Polish film festival Camerimage on November 20, 2024. Rust was released theatrically in the United States on May 2, 2025 to mixed reviews. The movie underperformed in theaters, generally credited by critics to the controversy surrounding Hutchins' death.[5]
In 1882 Wyoming Territory, 13-year-old Lucas Hollister looks after his younger brother, Jacob, following their parents' recent deaths. While chasing a wolf, Lucas accidentally kills the father of a boy who bullied Jacob. Lucas is sentenced to death by hanging, only to be kidnapped by a stranger revealed to be his outlaw grandfather, Harland Rust. Heading for the US-Mexico border, they escape into New Mexico Territory. Despite initial animosity, the two bond over their similar experiences of losing family to illness and suicide; in Lucas' case his mother and father, and Harland his son and wife.
Meanwhile disillusioned Marshal Wood Helm, his posse, and also bounty hunters like the mentally unstable Fenton "Preacher" Lang, as well as Kiowa Native Americans are all pursuing Harland and Lucas.
After surviving a close encounter with the Kiowa by giving tribute, Lucas and Harland are captured, but escape during a shootout between the marshals and the bounty hunters over who should capture them. In a confrontation between Preacher, Wood, and Harland, Harland saves Wood's life by shooting Preacher.
Harland agrees to hand himself over to Wood on the condition Lucas be allowed to escape. Wood, due to his conscience and gratitude to Harland for saving his life, agrees. Harland succumbs to injuries sustained during the fight, but he is hanged nonetheless while Lucas safely arrives in Mexico to live with Jacob and their father's aunt, who is revealed to be the mastermind behind her brother Harland's effort to save Lucas. As he arrives, Lucas introduces himself as Lucas Rust and is later reunited with Jacob.
Patrick Scott McDermott as Lucas Hollister, Harland's grandson.[6]Brady Noon was originally cast as Lucas but when production was delayed for over a year, his other commitments made him unable to re-commit to the role.[7]
Travis Fimmel as Fenton "Preacher" Lang, a bounty hunter after Harland
Josh Hopkins as Wood Helm, a sheriff. Jensen Ackles was originally cast as Wood before being replaced by Hopkins, because the delayed production caused scheduling conflicts.[9][10]
In May 2020, it was announced that Alec Baldwin would produce and star in Rust, a Western based on a story he created with writer and director Joel Souza.[12] Baldwin told The Hollywood Reporter that he was elated to work with Souza after missing the opportunity to star in Crown Vic (2019). He compared the screenplay to the film Unforgiven (1992), and said it was inspired by a true story. When asked about his gun slinging and horse riding skills, he said: "They're always at the ready. I'm an actor of the old school. So if you read my resume—my motorcycle riding, my French, juggling, my horseback riding, my gunplay—is all right at my fingertips at all times."[13]
In October 2021, production was suspended after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot when a gun being used as a prop was fired by Baldwin during the preparation for a scene; Souza was injured by the same round. A number of lawsuits were filed and eventually manslaughter charges were filed against Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.[14][15][16] Filming finally restarted in April 2023 and was completed soon after. Gutierrez-Reed was ultimately found guilty but Baldwin was acquitted.[17][18][19][20]
Rust was being produced on a $6–7 million budget and has been described as a "passion project" for Baldwin.[21][22][23] The film's distribution rights were sold to The Avenue for $2 million during the pre-production phase.[24]Travis Fimmel, Brady Noon, and Frances Fisher joined the cast in September 2021,[25] with Jensen Ackles being cast the following month.[26] The production involved approximately 150 crew members, half of them local, 22 principal and 230 background actors from New Mexico.[27][28] The production had a filming schedule of 21 days.[24][29] Filming began in New Mexico on October 6, 2021.[30]
On the morning of October 21, 2021, which was to be the twelfth day of filming, seven unionized members of the film's camera crew collected their belongings at approximately 6:30a.m. MT in a walkout.[31] They claim they were told to leave the set, with a producer threatening to call the police, and were replaced.[32][33] According to a statement given to TheWrap by an anonymous insider, several crew members took a number of prop guns off-set that day, including the firearm involved in the incident, to pass the time shooting at beer cans with live ammunition.[34] After a lunch break, the prop guns had been returned.[34] It is not clear if the firearms were checked again.[35] On October 26, the Santa Fe County district attorney said these claims were still unconfirmed.[36]
Later that day, the cast and crew were rehearsing a gunfight scene taking place inside of a church at the Bonanza Creek Ranch. Firearms and ammunition were retrieved from a locked safe and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed placed three guns to be used in filming on a cart.[31] Among them were a plastic gun that could not shoot live ammunition, a modified weapon that could not fire any type of ammunition, and a solid-frame .45 Coltrevolver replica made by Pietta.[31][37][38][39]
According to a search warrant, the guns were briefly checked by Gutierrez-Reed, before assistant director David Halls took the Pietta revolver from the prop cart and handed it to Baldwin.[40][41] In a subsequent affidavit, Halls said the safety protocol regarding this firearm was such that Halls would open the loading gate of the revolver and rotate the cylinder to expose the chambers so he could inspect them himself. According to the affidavit, Halls said he did not check all cylinder chambers, but he recalled seeing three rounds in the cylinder at the time. After the shooting, Halls said in the affidavit, Gutierrez-Reed retrieved the weapon and opened it, and Halls said that he saw four rounds which were plainly blanks, and one which could have been the remaining shell of a discharged live round.[42] In the warrant, it is further stated that Halls announced the term "cold gun", meaning that it did not contain live rounds.[40] Halls's lawyer, Lisa Torraco, later sought to assert that he did not take the gun off the cart and hand it to Baldwin as reported, but when pressed by a reporter to be clear, she refused to repeat that assertion.[43]
B-camera operator Reid Russell was situated on a camera dolly, looking at a monitor with Hutchins and Souza both nearby. The scene involved Baldwin's character removing a gun from its holster and pointing it toward the camera.[31][35] The trio behind the monitor were two feet (0.6m) from the muzzle of the firearm and none of them were wearing protective gear such as noise-canceling headphones or safety goggles.[31]
The trio behind the monitor began repositioning the camera to remove a shadow, and Baldwin began explaining to the crew how he planned to draw the firearm.[35] He said, "So, I guess I'm gonna take this out, pull it, and go, 'Bang!'"[31] He removed it from the holster, and the revolver discharged a single time. Baldwin denied pulling the trigger of the gun, while ABC News described a later FBI report stating that the gun could only fire if the trigger was pulled.[44][45] Halls was quoted by his attorney Lisa Torraco as saying that Baldwin did not pull the trigger, and that Baldwin's finger was never within the trigger guard during the incident.[46] When the gun fired, the projectile traveled towards the three behind the monitor. It struck Hutchins in the chest, traveled through her body, and then hit Souza in the shoulder.[32][40][47] Script supervisor Mamie Mitchell called 9-1-1 at 1:46p.m. MT and emergency crews appeared three minutes later.[31] Footage of the incident was not recorded.[37]
As a result of the incident, production on Rust was suspended indefinitely,[48] though co-producer Anjul Nigam was confident the film would resume production once the investigation ended. However, Nigam later clarified that he meant to express optimism and hope, rather than confidence, as he stated that many involved in the production hope to honor Hutchins by completing her final work.[50][51]
Spider bite incident
In November 2021, weeks after the shooting incident, lamp operator and pipe rigger Jason Miller was bitten in the arm by a brown recluse spider while closing the set. Miller suffered necrosis and sepsis. He was hospitalized and underwent multiple surgeries to avoid amputation of his arm.[52][53][54]
Resumed production
In October 2022, the Hutchins family settled the lawsuit,[55] with filming set to resume in January 2023 in California, with Matthew Hutchins, Halyna's husband, as an executive producer.[56][57] Many of the film's crew gave mixed reactions towards the news, with some supporting it and planning on resuming their work on it, but others condemning the decision and deciding not to return.[58] On January 18, filming was delayed again after New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies decided to charge Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter.[59] In February 2023, it was reported that filming would resume in spring 2023 with Souza directing and Bianca Cline as cinematographer. Grant Hill was added as producer.[60] The new shooting location was reported to be Yellowstone Film Ranch in Livingston, Montana.[61] Producers stated that the use of working weapons or ammunition would be prohibited.[60]
Production of the film resumed on April 20, 2023.[6][14] The same day, it was reported that prosecutors had informed Baldwin that the charges against him were being dropped and the new, updated cast was released.[15] Meanwhile, Patrick Scott McDermott was confirmed to have replaced Noon.[7] By May 2023, Jensen Ackles left because of scheduling conflicts; a new character is played by Josh Hopkins.[10] On April 24, 2023, Baldwin returned to the set to finish filming his scenes,[62] with the production concluding on May 22, 2023.[16]
Release
Rust held its world premiere at Camerimage on November 20, 2024, in Toruń, Poland.[63] The film was released theatrically and on video-on-demand (VOD) on May 2, 2025, by Falling Forward Films.[64][65][66][67] The film was released on 150 screens, while Decal Releasing will handle the home release.
Reception
Box office
It was estimated that the film made $25,000 at 115 theaters on its opening day.[68]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 59% of 46 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "A middling drama overshadowed by tragic circumstances, Rust boasts a handsome look but doesn't bring much distinctive flavor to the Western genre."[69]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 46 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[70]
Variety wrote in its review, "It's a handsome and watchable indie art Western, set in 1882, that turns into a sentimental cross-generational buddy film. Yet I can't say that the movie, in the end, is especially good."[71]
The New York Times called the film "a derivative, hyperviolent, finally sentimental drama set in the 19th century about an orphan (Patrick Scott McDermott) and his outlaw grandfather (Baldwin) that's filled with mayhem and carnage."[72]
The cinematography by Hutchins and co-cinematographer Bianca Cline was praised. David Ehrlich, writing for IndieWire, said that "the film's digital gloss dovetails with the rustic elementalism of its genre, whereas so many other recent Westerns have forced those two aesthetics into direct confrontation with each other", while Jesse Hassenger, writing for The Guardian, described Hutchins as "the movie's saving grace".[73][74]
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