TW: The following article discusses gun violence.
In her own written words, Halyna Hutchins, the woman who was shot and killed on the set of the Western film Rust is a restless dreamer, adrenaline junkie and cinematographer. The 42-year-old Ukrainian was one of two victims after actor and producer Alec Baldwin intentionally used a prop gun during filming on Oct. 21 in New Mexico. According to NPR, “Camera operator Reid Russell…told investigators after the gun went off, Hutchins ‘said she couldn’t feel her legs’ and that medics treated her as she was bleeding on the floor.” After being taken in a helicopter to the University of New Mexico hospital, Hutchins was officially pronounced dead. Director Joel Souza was also injured but managed to survive the incident.
Just two years ago, Hutchins was named a rising star in the field by American Cinematography because of her photography talents. “You need to develop your own vision, but the key to a successful film is communication with your director and your team,” Hutchins said in 2019.
After graduating from the American Film Institute in 2015, she contributed to some 49 film and television productions.
“She was selected as one of our Rising Stars based on the artistic potential she displayed in the features Snowbound and Darlin’, and in a short titled The Providers,” American Cinematographer editor-in-chief Stephen Pizzello said.
One of Hutchins’ well-known projects included the 2020 movie Archenemy.
“She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and film,” Adam Egypt Mortimer, Archenemy director, said in a Twitter post. Mortimer shared an anecdote with AP News, where Hutchins was eager to film ‘European Style,’ which was improvised shooting after one of the actors had to suddenly change the schedule.
As a child, Hutchins was raised on a military base in the Arctic Circle. According to her website, she was “surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines.” Later, Hutchins would attend Ukraine’s Kyiv National University where she majored in international journalism. She married her husband Matthew Hutchins 16 years ago. She leaves him and their 9-year-old son Andros Hutchins behind.
“I am not going to be able to comment about the facts or the process of what we’re going through right now, but I appreciate that everyone has been very sympathetic,” Matthew Hutchins told Insider.
He and his son were seen having breakfast with Baldwin in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the morning of Oct. 23. Since the incident, the actor expressed he is working with the police to ensure that there is a clear picture as to what happened.
“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” Baldwin wrote on Twitter.
According to People, “A noticeably somber Baldwin later bid farewell to Matthew and Andros with a hug. ‘Honestly, he didn’t look good,’ [an] insider shares, adding that the group was ‘definitely sad’ during their breakfast.”
Before her death, the cinematographer posted photos from the set to her Instagram, including a video of Hutchins on a horse with the caption, “One of the perks of shooting a western is you get to ride horses on your day off.” The same day, she posted in solidarity of the Rust staffers that are members of The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) as a protest was forming.
Earlier on the day of the shooting, some of the Rust crew members quit the production after poor working conditions and housing. As a result, the local New Mexico chapter of IATSE announced that they “have been greatly disturbed by media reports that the producers employed non-union persons in craft positions and worse, used them to replace skilled union members who were protesting their working conditions. That is inexcusable.”
Director Mortimer continued, saying “She was a true wartime sister, fighting the battles to make this thing look amazing despite the unrelenting limitations and catastrophes.”