Actor and producer Alec Baldwin doubled down on his defense of working conditions on the movie “Rust” by sharing on Tuesday what appeared to be social media posts of a crew member who said complaints on set have been overblown.
© (Jim Weber/AP)
Alec Baldwin outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico after he was questioned about the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21. (Jim Weber/AP)
Baldwin, who fired the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21, shared seven screenshots of comments that appear to have been posted by Terese Magpale Davis, a Georgia-based costume designer who worked on the movie. The context of the comments — to whom Davis was writing, and whether Baldwin was reposting her comments with her knowledge or approval — was unclear.
In the comments, first reported by Deadline, Davis defended the producers of the beleaguered western as well as the two crew members at the center of the investigation, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director Dave Halls.
Davis did not immediately respond to The Times’ efforts to verify that the posts were hers. Baldwin also was not immediately available for comment.
Baldwin’s reposting of a colleague’s apparent defense of the movie comes after Baldwin publicly fielded questions about the tragedy for the first time this week. Addressing photographers in Vermont, he described the “Rust” team as “a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together” in New Mexico. “Rust” assistant director Dave Halls also addressed Hutchins’ death, issuing a statement that said the movie industry needed to “reevaluate its values and practices.”
In response to reports that cost-conscious producers created an unsafe work environment, the posting attributed to Davis said the crew never worked more than 12½ hour days. She said the camera crew, whom The Times reported walked out because of pay, safety and housing issues, were provided hotel rooms. “They just didn’t feel like they were fancy enough,” Davis wrote. After the camera crew walked, non-union replacements were brought in.
The comments attributed to Davis described the producers of the movie, who include Baldwin, as having worked tirelessly alongside the crew. “Maybe before you send those letters telling the Thomasville producers what you think of them for hiring non union you might want to wait and find out what the majority of those of us who worked with them actually feel about them,” she wrote. Among the producers of the movie are the founders of Georgia-based based production company Thomasville Pictures, led by “Rust” executive producer Allen Cheney and producer Ryan Smith.
The posting suggested that a union representative told the production “not to give in to the camera crew because they were demanding things the union does not require.”
The comments Baldwin reposted said Davis will never get the sound of the gunshot or the screams of director Joel Souza screams out of her head.
Julia Wick contributed to this reporting.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
